


Can't Help Falling in Love With You

by justyrae



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Wedding Date, Blow Jobs, Drunken Shenanigans, Flirting, Frottage, Kissing, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-17
Updated: 2014-04-17
Packaged: 2018-01-19 19:21:15
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 21,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1481113
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justyrae/pseuds/justyrae
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Niall is an Irish popstar and Harry asks him to his sister's wedding via Twitter, never expecting he'd actually say yes.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can't Help Falling in Love With You

**Author's Note:**

> this all started as a daydream I had about inviting Niall to my own sister's wedding (which is next week) but then the more I thought about it, the more I needed to write it down. only I would start a side Narry fic to distract myself from the main Narry fic that has me tearing my hair out.
> 
> title from 'Can't Help Falling in Love' by Elvis Presley

It started as a joke, as all utterly ridiculous ideas do. A joke between mates during a night where bad decisions were as readily available as alcohol. It never mattered how many times he found himself in this situation, Harry was never used to the way Louis became so adamant that his ideas were fantastic after several drinks.

"Just for a laugh! C'mon, Hazza!"

"No," Harry replied even though he was laughing. "I am not doing it!"

"Oh, why not? Are you scared or summat?"

"No!" Harry kept laughing, looking back and forth between Louis and Liam, who was also laughing uncontrollably. Louis wasn't sharing in the laughter but he was grinning so widely that he didn't need to.

"Come on," Louis whined. "You can't go to your sister's wedding stag, that's horrible!"

"I won't be there alone! You lot will be there!"

"We don't count," Liam pointed out. "We're each other's dates."

"Indeed we are," Louis agreed as he threw his arm around Liam's neck, pulling him against his body with a bit more force than Liam was ready for. They all erupted into laughter as Liam latched onto the table between them, saving himself from falling onto the floor.

"Besides, what's the harm in going stag?" Harry went on, ignoring the look on Louis' face. "Maybe I'll meet someone there!"

"A likely story," Louis said with a huff. "Knowing you, you'll get pissed and whine in the corner all night."

"I will not!"

"Prove me wrong, then!" Louis slammed his fist down on the table, sending himself into a fit of giggles and Harry shook his head.

"Alright, alright, if I do it will you shut the fuck up?"

Louis beamed. "Promise."

"Christ," Harry mumbled as he stuffed his hand into his pocket to retrieve his phone. "I dunno how you put up with this one all the time, Li."

"Years of practice," he replied with a smile. Louis scoffed, pretending to be offended as Liam kissed his cheek. Harry finally pulled his phone from his pocket, cursing his too tight jeans and ignoring the snickers from the other two.

"I'm not nearly drunk enough for this," he mumbled before turning around and signaling for the waitress to bring another round.

*

Louis insisted that it all started because Harry had been listening to nothing but _his_ music for months. Harry swore it wasn't true, but nobody believed him. Both Louis and Liam had proof – of several occasions – where they'd walked into Harry's flat and the same album was blaring and Harry was singing along at the top of his lungs.

So when the rumors of his true sexuality started spreading like wildfire, Harry was sure he'd never hear the end of it. Louis was the first to tease, telling Harry over and over that it was obviously meant to be. Harry brushed it off as Louis acting like a silly 16-year-old fangirl, even though Louis couldn't be bothered to even listen to a single track unless Harry forced him to.

But honestly, Harry blamed it on three things: first and foremost, Louis. Mainly because once an idea was in his head, he was hell-bent on making it happen. The second, alcohol. Because alcohol always made stupid ideas seem brilliant at the time. And third, even if he'd never admit it aloud, he was lonely and it seemed worth a shot.

"This is absurd," Harry whined, starting to slur his words together as he pored over his iPhone screen and the blank tweet he'd had open for the last ten minutes.

"Absurdly amazing," Louis corrected, snickering as he leaned into Liam.

"No, just absurd." Harry laid his head down on the table and groaned loudly. "I don't even know what to say!"

"Give it here, I'll do it." Liam snatched Harry's phone and Harry was far too intoxicated to even think about protesting.

He turned his head to give Liam what he hoped was a pleading look, and he thought maybe he succeeded when Liam rolled his eyes.

"Don't worry, I'll tell you what I write before I send it. I'm not Louis."

"Hey!" Louis protested, but then he shrugged his shoulders and remained silent. Harry laughed, reaching for his drink and trying to figure out how he could take a sip without lifting his head up or spilling it all over himself.

It didn't end well.

"Christ, you're like a bloody child!" Liam cried as he leapt out of his seat to avoid the splash of Harry's drink. Louis cried out as he fell to the floor, not expecting Liam to move so suddenly and far too drunk to react properly.

"Blame Louis," Harry groaned as he shook his head, flinging alcohol every which way before he wiped his face off.

"I should make you do this yourself for that," Liam said, brandishing Harry's phone.

"Didja write it?" Harry asked, reaching his hand out to take his phone back from Liam. He held it out of reach for a moment before he gave it back to Harry.

**@Harry_Styles: @NiallOfficial what would you say if I invited you to be my date to a wedding next month? :)**

"That's it?"

Liam shrugged. "Short, sweet, and to the point!"

Harry sighed heavily as he stared down at his phone and debated whether or not he should actually do this, drunk or not.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Louis grabbed Harry's phone, pressing send before Harry could get it back.

"What'd you do that for?!"

"Because you weren't going to!"

Harry slumped down in his seat as Louis pushed his phone back across the table, purposefully not avoiding the puddle of alcohol. Harry grimaced as he picked his phone up and wiped it off on his jeans.

"Now who's the child?" he asked, sending a mock glare Louis' way. He stuck out his tongue then grinned.

"Thank me later when you've got a date."

*

The next morning Harry woke up with a splitting headache and a fuzzy recollection of the night before. He completely ignored his phone as he made himself some tea, settling down on his couch with a fluffy blanket wrapped around his legs as he waited for it to cool off.

He was forced to stir from his cozy spot when his phone started ringing. Recognizing the ringtone as Liam's, he heaved himself off the couch to retrieve it from his bedroom.

"Morning, Li."

"Would you please check your bloody messages before Louis murders you?"

"What?" Harry asked, laughing slightly before he winced at the shooting pain in his left temple.

"Just do it, yeah?" Liam shouted something, presumably at Louis, before he hung up and left Harry entirely confused.

Deciding to humor Liam, Harry checked his texts to see that he had seven new ones – all from Louis.

**HARRY**

**HARRY ARE YOU SEEING THIS**

**HARRY WAKE UP**

**FOR FUCK'S SAKE HARRY**

**ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW**

**FUCKING CHECK YOUR PHONE YOU TWAT**

**DON'T MAKE ME COME OVER THERE**

Harry chuckled again, pressing his hand against his head to will it to stop pounding. He called Liam back, still not sure what this was all about.

"Did you check?"

"Yeah, but I don't get it, Li." There was a rustle on the other end of the line and suddenly Louis' voice came booming through the receiver.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU DON'T GET IT?!" Louis yelled and Harry nearly dropped his phone.

"Fucking hell, Louis, shut up!" There was more rustling and muffled arguing until Liam apparently wrestled the phone away from Louis and spoke again.

"Harry, honestly, do us all a favor and check Twitter, alright?"

Harry opened his mouth to ask why, but Liam had already hung up. He tried to think of reasons why he'd have to check Twitter, but the night before was such a blur that he couldn't think of a single one.

Curiosity won out in the end and he opened the app, surprised when he saw he had a notification that someone had tweeted at him.

It was a very good thing that Harry wasn't holding his mug of hot tea when he clicked on it, because he definitely would've dropped it and scalded himself.

**@NiallOfficial: @Harry_Styles I'd say it sounds like a lovely idea, but I don't think I'd be able to swing it! Sorry mate :)**

"Now do you get it?" Harry ignored the taunting tone of Liam's voice.

"What. The. Fuck!" Harry groaned. "Why is Niall fucking Horan tweeting me?"

"Don't you remember?" Liam laughed. "Louis dared you to tweet him and ask if he'd be your date to Gemma's wedding."

"…what."

"Yeah, well, I ended up writing it and Louis sent it because you were too pissed to do much of anything, but that's why he's tweeting you."

"Oh bloody hell," Harry groaned again. "Why do I let Louis talk me into these things?"

"Because you're a pushover, Harry." Liam chuckled. "We all are, when it comes to Louis."

"What do I do now?" Harry asked. "Christ, this is so stupid, I-"

"Harry," Liam interrupted in the kind of tone used when you want to make sure your point is getting across, "you're over-thinking this far too much. Just tweet him back and say thank you or just ignore it and get on with your life. It was just a bit of fun."

"Right. Yeah." Harry sighed. "I'm being stupid."

"S'alright, Haz. We still love you."

Even after hanging up with Liam, Harry agonized over what to reply with. He tried to ignore it and tell himself that he didn't need to say anything. But the longer he went without replying, the more he worried about it.

It took him nearly an hour to write, edit, and rewrite a tweet that he could even consider sending. He never thought that 140 characters could cause so much grief.

**@Harry_Styles: @NiallOfficial too bad, the wedding's in Ireland and I'm sure you of all people know how fun Irish weddings can be!**

As soon as he pressed send, Harry dropped his phone onto his couch and strode into his bathroom to take a shower. He stayed under the stream of water until the temperature ran cold, telling himself that there was absolutely no reason for him to be freaking out this much.

Hours later, when he'd finally calmed down enough to check his phone again, he nearly passed out when he saw he had two new notifications.

The first was that Niall had followed him on Twitter. The second was a direct message from Niall himself.

**@NiallOfficial: wellll in that case, what are the details? ;)**

"You've got to be fucking kidding me."

*

"This is by far the stupidest thing I've ever done," Harry pointed at Louis, "and it's entirely your fault."

" _My_ fault?" Louis scoffed. "You should be thanking me!"

"Why the hell would I ever thank you for this?" Harry asked, ignoring the way Liam started giggling to himself. "I'm about to go through Hell, I hope you know this."

"Oh, stop being so overdramatic!"

"Yeah, that's Lou's job."

"Hey!" Louis punched Liam in the arm and frowned. "Rude."

"It's true," Liam replied, shifting away from Louis as best he could, given that he was driving them to the airport and he would prefer not to crash on the way there.

"You lot should be coming with me," Harry grumbled. "It's your fault I'm in this mess."

"And get roped into wedding duties?" Louis scoffed. "No thank you."

"The least you could do is help me in my hour of need."

"Help you with what? Getting laid?" Louis chuckled and Harry rolled his eyes.

"Thank you for taking so much pleasure out of my distress, Louis. Really, you're the best mate ever."

"Don't I know it." Louis beamed. "Besides, you're acting like this is the end of the world when it's really not."

"Yeah, because inviting an Irish popstar who I've never actually met to my sister's wedding isn't nerve-wracking at all."

"Think of it as a blind date," Liam offered. "Just a really, really weird one."

Harry groaned and buried his head in his hands. "Why am I doing this?"

"Too late to do anything about it now." Louis turned around in his seat and patted Harry's shoulder in the least comforting way possible before he turned his attention back to Liam and ignored Harry completely.

Harry closed his eyes and leaned his head against the window, cursing everyone and everything he could think of for putting him in this situation. He couldn't even call it off if he tried because it was far too late now.

He didn't even have Niall's real phone number – they'd only been in communication via Twitter and that just made Harry even more nervous. All he had was a time and place to meet him so they'd travel the four hours to Galway by train together.

It sounded like a decent enough idea when Niall suggested it, but the more Harry thought about it, the more nervous he became. He couldn't help but worry that maybe Niall would be an insufferable bore, or perhaps even worse.

Harry only really knew what he was like from interviews he'd seen, and he had no idea if that was how Niall was in normal, everyday life. Maybe he was a complete twat and Harry was going to be miserable the whole week.

 _Or_ , the voice in the back of Harry's mind said, _he'll be absolutely lovely and you'll never want the week to end._

He grumbled to himself as he pushed that idea to the back of his mind, ignoring the fact that he could feel both Louis and Liam looking at him even though his eyes were still closed.

Once he'd said goodbye to Louis and Liam – trying his best not to throttle Louis when he clung dramatically to him and said he'd miss him terribly while Liam rolled his eyes – and made it through security, Harry settled into a seat near his gate and distracted himself with his phone.

He just happened to end up on Twitter, he didn't plan it or anything. Truth be told, he'd been avoiding Twitter most of the time since this whole thing started. He tried not to dwell on the fact that his heart fluttered every time he had a new notification, but it was getting increasingly difficult the closer he got to meeting Niall.

Harry scrolled through their conversation through direct messaging, feeling his nerves grow the further he went.

**@Harry_Styles seriously? I mean…you don't have to if you don't want to…**

**@NiallOfficial too late now, you invited and I accepted.**

**@NiallOfficial so tell me about this wedding. When is it, where is it?**

**@Harry_Styles uhh well, it's in three weeks, somewhere called Galway?**

**@NiallOfficial somewhere called Galway? Have you never been there?**

**@Harry_Styles no…I've never been anywhere in Ireland actually.**

**@NiallOfficial why's the wedding there? If you don't mind my asking…**

**@Harry_Styles the groom is from there, I think. I'm closer to the bride…**

Harry groaned, scrolling past the few messages past that where he'd _blatantly_ avoided mentioning that it was his sister's wedding. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to explain that just yet, but he was going to put it off for as long as possible.

**@Harry_Styles what else do you want to know?**

**@NiallOfficial well the date would be a good start. And when I should show up, as well. Those sorts of things.**

**@Harry_Styles it's on the 26 th, I'll be getting in on the 23rd but you don't have to come that early if you don't want to**

**@NiallOfficial nonsense! The pre-wedding parties are almost as good as the wedding itself! Flying into Dublin on the 23 rd, then?**

**@Harry_Styles uh…yeah…then taking the train to Galway?**

**@NiallOfficial excellent. Let me know when you book your ticket and I'll meet you at the station. We'll go together :)**

It was only then that he noticed the abrupt change in tone – even for messages through Twitter. Harry groaned softly, becoming more confused by this entire situation by the minute.

Harry exhaled a deep breath as he shoved his phone back in his pocket, no longer wanting to look at the rest of their conversation. He had no idea how he'd managed to have his life end up like the plot of an utterly ridiculous romantic comedy – but it was starting to wear a bit thin.

"This is all Louis' fault," he mumbled to himself, only half-believing it.

Harry couldn't deny that he'd had a rather large part to play in this whole concoction, given that he hadn't shut up about Niall's music for months before. Part of him wished he could go back in time and take it all back, if only for the sake of his sanity.

But deep down, there was a small part of him that was overwhelmingly excited about the fact that he was about to meet _Niall fucking Horan_. Especially given the ludicrous circumstances, Harry knew he was never going to forget this.

*

"Are you completely out of your fucking mind?"

"No more than usual," Niall replied with a grin. Zayn groaned in frustration, resisting the urge to slap him upside the head.

"You know, I'd hoped you'd actually come to your senses before this."

"I still don't see the problem," Niall answered with a shrug.

"You can't agree to go to a wedding just because someone asks you to on Twitter!"

"Why not?" Zayn stared at Niall as if he'd grown three extra heads, and Niall found it all very amusing.

"What if it's all a ploy?! What if this guy is some nutcase who wants to kill you?!"

"By inviting me to a wedding? They're getting crafty now," Niall joked, making Zayn groan again.

"Stop fucking joking, it's not funny."

"But it is!" Niall protested. "Besides, you already asked him a million questions on Twitter – without telling me first, I might add."

"It was for your own good, you twat." Niall rolled his eyes.

"Honestly, what's the worst that could happen?"

"You could die," Zayn stated plainly. "Then what would I do?"

"You'd have to find another best mate." Niall grinned. "And a new job, I suppose."

"You're such a twat," Zayn grumbled. Niall frowned, turning his bottom lip out in to a pout as he wrapped his arms around Zayn. He knew Zayn hated when he did this, so he made sure to do it as often as he could.

"Zayyyn," he whined, "I'll be good, I promise. I'll even call you every day so you don't miss me too much."

"I won't-" Zayn groaned and tried to push Niall away but it didn't work when he wasn't putting much effort into it. "I'm just worried, you tosser."

"I know," Niall said with a grin, "and I think it's adorable."

"Shut up."

"Never." Niall beamed. "Now help me pack. Whatever will I wear?!"

Niall let go of Zayn and went bouncing into the next room, leaving Zayn alone to sigh heavily and shake his head. He wondered to himself how he'd managed to put up with Niall for this long as a manager, let alone being his best friend.

"Zayn," Niall said as he poked his head back into the room. "I'm completely serious, you know if you let me pick out my own clothes I'll end up wearing a snapback and a tank to the sodding thing."

"This is why I should just come with you," Zayn replied with a sigh as he followed Niall into the next room.

"I can't bring a date when I'm someone else's date, that's rude!" Niall rolled his eyes. "Honestly, Zayn, don't you have manners at all?"

"I just hope you know what you're getting yourself into," Zayn mumbled as he opened Niall's closet.

"'Course I do. Open bar!" Niall cheered. "What other reason is there to go to a wedding anyway?"

Zayn rolled his eyes, letting out a soft chuckle. It would be a miracle if Niall made it to the wedding at all, given how much Zayn wanted to smother him on an hourly basis since this whole thing started.

*

Finding the train station proved to be far easier than Harry had imagined – he had no idea why he'd expected Dublin to be impossible to navigate. He supposed that if the Irish were really as drunk all the time as the rest of the world imagined them to be, then their cities had to be somewhat simple to get around in because otherwise they'd never get anything done.

He chuckled to himself at the passing thought, giving himself a small sense of comfort before he became nervous again realizing he was due to meet Niall at any moment.

As he stood by the gate where their train was due to depart in the next half an hour, Harry tried extremely hard not to appear suspicious with the way he was searching the crowd for a sign of Niall. He wasn't sure if he'd even recognize him at first, since he may try and disguise himself so as to not get mobbed.

It was then that Harry realized he'd never told Niall what he actually looked like. All he had to go off of was Harry's picture on Twitter, which he hadn't changed in the three years he'd had the account. He quickly pulled out his phone and looked at it, grimacing slightly when he remembered the picture he'd used – muttering to himself that he should never let Louis talk him into anything ever again.

He was about to put his phone back in his pocket when a new notification popped up, and Harry's heart leapt into his throat.

**@NiallOfficial you wouldn't happen to be wearing a grey coat and have a black bag on your shoulder, would you?**

Harry's head snapped up, scanning the crowd for any sign of Niall because that was _exactly_ what he had on him at that moment. He didn't see him until he turned all the way around, and he tried like hell not to let his jaw drop when Niall waved.

Niall walked towards him with another man that Harry didn't recognize, and it seemed as though they were arguing the whole way over. Harry slipped his phone into his pocket and found himself fidgeting as he told himself not to be nervous, despite the fact that his heart started pounding the closer Niall got to him.

"-just saying, Niall-"

"Yeah, and I heard you the first hundred times." Niall rolled his eyes, smiling brightly at Harry once he and the mystery man had stopped in front of him. "Harry, right?"

"Yeah," Harry choked out, hoping his entire face wasn't bright red as he stuck out his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Likewise!" Niall grabbed his hand and shook it eagerly, jabbing his thumb at his associate once he'd let go. "This is Zayn, he'll be leaving now."

"I will not!" Zayn protested, turning his attention to Harry with a look so piercing Harry had to physically stop himself from flinching. "You're harmless, aren't you?"

"Christ, Zayn, enough!" Zayn rolled his eyes, rounding on Niall.

"I've got a right to know, yeah?" He turned back to Harry and held out his phone. "Give us your phone."

"W-What?"

"Your phone. Give it." Zayn snapped his fingers. "Chop, chop! Haven't got all day."

Harry scrambled to take his phone back out, unlocking it quickly before handing it over. Niall shook his head and mumbled a curse at Zayn under his breath.

"Sorry about this," he said to Harry. "Zayn's a bit paranoid."

"I've every right to be," Zayn snapped, punching numbers into Harry's phone while he took his own phone out of his pocket. He stared intently at the screens for a moment before he handed Harry's back. "There. If anything – and I mean _anything_ – happens, you're to call me immediately, got it?"

Harry nodded, nearly snapping his head from moving it so quickly. Niall laughed, holding onto Zayn for balance as he nearly doubled over.

"You're scaring the poor boy half to death!"

"Good!" Zayn replied. "I won't have anything happen to my best mate because of some gangly tosser."

"Hey," Harry protested with a small frown. "You don't even know me."

"Exactly." Zayn narrowed his eyes at Harry, who dropped his eyes to the ground. He was right, after all.

"Well, this is off to a lovely start." Niall sighed, tugging Zayn in for a hug. "Zayn, sod off. I'll see you in a week."

"Don't forget to call me. Every day," Zayn murmured into Niall's ear as he clung to him tightly for a moment, ruffling his hair when he pulled back.

"Yeah, yeah, I will. You're worse than my mum."

"Your mum would kill me if she knew I was letting you do this." Niall beamed.

"That's why you don't talk to my mum anymore." Zayn rolled his eyes.

"Just go already, before I change my mind and take you back home."

Harry stood by, nervously picking at a stray thread on his sleeve as this whole exchange was taking place. It reminded him of some variation of a conversation that would occur between him and Louis, possibly even Liam. But even with that shred of familiarity, he still felt like he was intruding.

" _You_ just go," Niall said with a chuckle as he pushed Zayn away. "I've got to get to know my date for the week." He turned to Harry and wiggled his eyebrows.

It was a wonder that Harry didn't pass out right then and there, with the way his entire body seemed to go absolutely numb.

"Now who's scaring him," Zayn mumbled, ruffling Niall's hair once more before he turned around and started heading back in the direction he'd come from.

"Sorry about that," Niall said once Zayn had disappeared into the crowd. "He's a bit overprotective, in case you didn't notice."

"Little bit," Harry mumbled, hardly able to meet Niall's eye.

"Well…" Niall sighed softly, looking at the train beside them. "Shall we?"

Harry nodded, silently following Niall's lead onto the train and hoping that he would stop feeling so goddamned nervous soon. The week was going to be torturous enough already what with his relatives, he didn't need to feel like he was going to drop dead at any moment on top of all of that.

They settled into seats facing each other, though Harry was still so nervous that he wasn't sure if he was going to be able to speak in full sentences any time soon. He hoped it would pass, otherwise this four hour train ride was going to be even longer.

"I have to say," Niall remarked offhandedly as he glanced out the window, "I'm glad that the facial hair wasn't real."

"The…wha-" Harry closed his eyes and groaned, remembering his Twitter picture as Niall started to laugh. He laughed so much that Harry couldn't help but join in, feeling himself start to relax in Niall's company.

Maybe the week wouldn't be so bad if he could keep Niall laughing. Harry wasn't sure if he'd ever heard anything he liked more, but he quickly pushed that thought away because he did _not_ need to be thinking those sorts of things right then.

He hardly realized Niall had said anything more at first, until he looked up and saw that he was staring right at him. Harry's eyes widened as Niall started laughing again, and he hoped that he hadn't just ignored something important.

"Sorry, spaced out for a second," he mumbled as he tore his eyes away from Niall and towards the window.

"S'alright," Niall answered with a chuckle. "I was just asking you about yourself."

Harry turned his head back to look at Niall and said, "what do you want to know?"

Niall shrugged. "I dunno. What do you do when you're not asking people out over Twitter?"

"I, uh, work in a bakery." Harry could feel his cheeks burning up at the mention of how this whole thing started, and he wondered how many times it would take before he would stop that.

"Seriously?" Niall's eyes lit up. "That's incredible!"

"It's alright, yeah," Harry mumbled again.

"More than alright! You'll have to tell me which one so when I come to London – you live in London, right?"

Harry nodded, and Niall kept rambling on about how much he loved sweets and how brilliant it was that Harry worked in a bakery. Harry marveled at the level of genuine joy that was just exuding from Niall as he spoke, and how his smile was so contagious that Harry couldn't help but smile in return.

"…'course I'd be rubbish if I worked in a bakery. I'd eat everything before it got out to the counter." Niall beamed and Harry chuckled.

"Good thing I don't have much of a sweet tooth, then."

Niall's face fell a bit, but he quickly recovered. "Just haven't found the right ones, then. We'll have to change that."

*

The remainder of the train ride was spent with Niall continuing to ask Harry questions about himself, and Harry found it strangely easy to tell him practically anything he wanted to know. The only topic he hoped Niall wouldn't stray towards was family, but it was only a matter of time.

"Sounds like you've got some good mates, then." Niall smiled as Harry finished telling him all about Louis and Liam, conveniently neglecting to mention it was their doing that brought them together.

"Yeah, they're like my brothers really." Harry chuckled. "Until they start snogging in front of me, then it gets a bit weird."

"Weird?" Niall asked, his voice falling into a soft tone and Harry worried that he'd said something wrong all of a sudden.

"Not like, weird because they're two blokes snogging, but like-" Harry stammered, "-just, well, it's like seeing your mum and dad, yeah?"

"So they're like your mum and dad?" Niall smirked. "Who's who?"

Harry groaned. "Oh, god, don't put that in my head," he moaned as he dropped his head into his hands. "That is not something I need to see."

Niall started laughing hysterically as Harry racked his brain trying to think of a proper way to explain it. He'd done a shit job already, so he hoped there was nowhere left to go but up.

"It's like," he sighed. "You know when you see someone for the first time, the first thing you probably say to yourself is 'oh, they're quite fit' or something," he paused, trying not to turn red as he noticed Niall raise his eyebrow, "and like, that's how I felt when I first met Louis."

"Oh?"

Harry ignored Niall's comment and continued, "then I got to know him and found out he was a bit of a prat." Niall laughed.

"I want to meet this Louis, with the way you talk about him he sounds like a laugh."

"He is," Harry replied with a smile. "And you will. Liam too."

"Excellent."

"But, like, do you get what I mean? It's like, once someone crosses over in your head from being fit to being like your brother, it's a bit weird to see them back in that first sort of setting."

"Do you have an actual brother?" Niall asked, throwing Harry a bit off track.

"No," he answered sheepishly.

"Well, I do." Niall chuckled. "And I can definitely say that I'll never get used to the sight of him and his wife snogging. Downright disgusting if you ask me." He waved his hand. "Though that might be due to…" he trailed off with a chuckle and avoided Harry's eye.

"What?" Niall shook his head.

"Nothing, s'nothing. Tell me about your sister!"

"Well," Harry chuckled nervously, pushing all of the questions he had about Niall's offhand comment to the back of his mind, "funny you should ask."

"Why's that?"

"Well…you'll be meeting her soon."

"Oh, will I?" Niall beamed. "Excellent! I love meeting family members. I remember the first time I met Zayn's sisters, oh, the things they told me…"

"Never mind, I'm keeping you as far away from Gemma as I can."

"I'll weasel my way into meeting her, just you wait!"

Harry smiled as he looked down at his hands, sighing softly. "I doubt I'll be able to stop you, actually."

"Really?"

"Yeah," Harry exhaled sharply as he looked up at Niall again. "She's the bride, after all."

Niall's eyes widened a little, but as a whole his reaction was not at all what Harry had expected.

"Oh. Cool! Makes it even better!"

"I- What?"

Niall grinned. "Trying to steal your sister's thunder, are you? Inviting some mildly famous popstar to her wedding and all, cheeky monkey."

"I didn't-" Harry slid down in his seat, covering his face with his hands and mumbling, "Gemma's going to kill me."

"Like I said," Niall said as he gave Harry a fond smile even though he couldn't see it. "Even better."

*

Niall did a very good job of distracting Harry from dreading the end of the train ride, until the end finally came. When it stopped in Galway, Niall jumped up and out of his seat while Harry couldn't seem to muster the strength.

"C'mon mate, if you don't get off the train soon you'll be sent back to Dublin."

"That's not a bad idea," Harry mumbled, but he stood up anyway.

"So am I going to be ambushed by your family when we step off the train?" Niall asked with a laugh.

"Nah," Harry replied with a chuckle. "We're cabbing it, I'm afraid."

"Oh, good. So you can remind me of the names of your nearest and dearest again." Niall beamed as he stepped off the train with Harry trailing behind. "Sister was Janet, yeah?"

"Gemma," Harry corrected.

"Right, right. And mother is Hannah?"

"Anne!" Harry sighed, and Niall turned around to look at him with a large smile.

"I know, I think I just like seeing you get all flustered."

"You-- I-- How--" Harry groaned but Niall kept smiling. "Just shut up and get a cab."

"So bossy!" Niall gasped. "You'd think _you_ were the bride!"

He strode off and Harry just shook his head as he watched. He stood still for a moment, wondering how in the last few hours he'd managed to forget that he'd only just met Niall. He wasn't one of his oldest friends, he was an Irish popstar that he barely knew.

_Why does this feel so-_

"Are you coming or what?" Niall called, snapping Harry out of his thoughts. He quickly made his way towards Niall and hopped into the cab after tossing his bag in the trunk. He gave the driver the address of the hotel, ignoring the way Niall raised his eyebrow.

"Last moment before the mayhem begins," Harry said as the cab pulled up in front of the hotel.

"I love mayhem!" Niall grinned, throwing the door open before Harry could say another word. He took a moment to take a deep breath, telling himself _again_ that this week was not going be as much of a disaster as he feared.

Harry hoped that they'd be able to check in and get to their rooms without running into any of his family, but once they stepped through the front door of the hotel that hope was immediately crushed. Gemma and his mother were standing at the front desk with identical smiles, looking straight at them.

"Oh, _fuck_." Harry put on his biggest smile to greet the pair of them. Just because he was seriously regretting ever talking to Louis in the first place when they were fourteen didn't mean he wasn't happy to see his family.

It just meant that the next time Harry saw Louis, his fist was going to have a little chat with the side of Louis' face. Maybe more than one.

"Harry!" Gemma was the first to wrap her arms around him in a hug, shortly followed by Anne.

"How was the flight? And the train? Are you hungry, love?"

"Mum, I'm fine," Harry replied, trying not to roll his eyes too obviously as she hugged him again. "Where's Sean? Haven't scared him off already, have you Gem?"

"Sod off," she replied with a smile. "He'll be down in a bit, he's avoiding mum."

"He is not!"

"Can't imagine why," Harry mumbled, knowing full well that Anne heard him.

"How ever did I raise such ungrateful children? I've half a mind to disown the both of you right now."

"If you do, can I skip the wedding?"

"Absolutely not," Gemma said as she punched Harry in the arm.

"Ah, well, guess there's no point then." Harry smiled at his mother who rolled her eyes at him.

"Stop running your mouth and introduce us to your guest." She pulled Harry to her side just in time to whisper, "you didn't tell us you had such a gorgeous boyfriend."

" _Mum_ ," Harry whined, turning red both from her comment and the fact that he'd more or less forgotten that Niall had been standing behind him the whole time. "He's—"

"I'm Niall," he interrupted, extending his hand to Gemma first. "Gemma, right? The lovely bride!"

"Charmer, aren't you?" Gemma smiled when Niall kissed the top of her hand, turning to give Harry a look he desperately wanted to ignore as Niall turned his attention to Anne.

"And the lovely mother of the lovely bride! Anne, yes?"

"Yes," Anne replied, beaming at Niall. "You'll have to forgive us, Niall, but Harry's told us nothing about you. We didn't even know he had a boyfriend until a few weeks ago!"

" _Mum!_ Niall's just a friend, for Chrissakes, he's _straight_!" Harry hissed.

"Oh, oh my—" Anne stuttered, but Niall simply continued to smile.

"Actually, I'm not, but we are _just_ mates."

Harry had never wanted to die so much as he did in the seconds after Niall spoke, especially given the way that he looked at Harry right as he did so.

"S'cuse us for a second, mum, Niall." Gemma smiled widely as she grabbed Harry's arm behind their mother's back and yanked him away.

"Gemma, what—"

"What the _hell_ are you doing bringing Niall fucking Horan to my wedding?!"

"I didn't—I just—wait, you know who he is?" Gemma rolled her eyes.

"Of course I know who he is. Christ, I'm not living under a rock, am I?"

"No, I just—" Harry groaned. "I honestly have no fucking idea what I'm doing right now."

"Apparently." Gemma smirked, punching Harry in the arm again. "My little brother, upstaging me at my own fucking wedding."

"It's all Louis fault, believe me." Gemma laughed.

"Should've known. It's always that little tosser's fault." Harry stole a look back at where Niall was still chatting with his mum, laughing at something she'd said.

Harry bit his lip, trying to force his heart to slow down as his mind was still reeling from recent events. Gemma snapped her fingers in front of his face to get him to look back at her, sighing heavily once he did.

"So are you going to tell me how this all happened?"

"No, because I'll never hear the end of this as it is!"

"Are you only 'just mates' or are you…y'know…" Gemma wiggled her eyebrows and Harry groaned loudly.

"Gem, I didn't even know about him until five minutes ago!"

"Yeah, but now that you _do_ …"

"I am not having this conversation with you right now," Harry said as he started to walk away. Gemma caught his arm, looping her own through it and chuckling lightly.

"You may want to get a grip, Haz." She smacked a kiss onto his cheek. "You lot are sharing a room."

Harry froze mid-step. "What?"

"That's what you get for telling me you're bringing someone three weeks before the wedding, you little shit."

Gemma patted his head, tearing herself away and practically skipping towards the elevators where her fiancé Sean had just appeared. Harry hardly noticed that now both his mother and Niall were staring at him until she spoke.

"Harry? Love, you alright?"

"Fine!" he replied quickly, plastering another smile on his face. "I'll go check in, yeah?"

"No need, I've got your keys." Anne handed over one to each of them, winking at Harry as she did so. "Why don't you two go freshen up and we'll meet up again later?"

"Sounds perfect!" Niall stepped forward to hug Anne, kissing her cheek lightly and making her blush and push him away. He headed towards the elevators and Harry intended to follow, but Anne grabbed his arm.

"Are you _sure_ you two aren't…"

" _Mum oh my god_!" Harry wrenched his arm from her grasp and quickly strode to the elevators, keeping his eyes on the ground to avoid Niall's.

Neither said a thing as the elevator doors opened and they stepped onto it, Niall reaching out to press their floor. Just before the doors closed, he chuckled.

"I like your family."

Harry groaned loudly.

*

As far as Harry was concerned, if Gemma thought that just because she was getting married she could do whatever she wanted, she had another thing coming. When he opened the door to his and Niall's room, they found that there was just one king-sized bed.

Niall didn't seem to care, as he cheered and ran right in to jump onto it. Harry, on the other hand, stood and stared with his mouth open. He was absolutely going to get her for this, and he had half a mind to blame Louis for it too. It seemed like something he would do.

It was only when Niall got his attention that Harry realized he'd been standing in the doorway for far too long.

"Something wrong, mate?"

"Nah," he said, shaking his head as he closed the door behind him, "Gemma's just got an odd sense of humor."

"I like her." Niall beamed. "And your mum. Who else do I get to meet today?"

"Nobody," Harry replied, only half meaning it to be a joke. "We're staying in here until the wedding."

Niall raised an eyebrow. "Kinky."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Christ, I didn't mean—"

"You're quite cute when you're flustered, d'you know that?" Niall grinned and patted the bed next to him. Harry hesitated, now standing at the foot of the bed and trying not to overthink the fact that Niall was expecting him to lie down with him.

"I'm not—I don't—"

"Just c'mere, yeah?" Niall reached out his hand to Harry, who still felt frozen in place.

He let out a shaky breath before taking Niall's hand and being immediately pulled down onto the bed next to him.

"There. Isn't that better?" he said with a smile. "Nice and relaxing."

"Yeah," Harry replied with a nervous chuckle. "Sure."

"You need to relax more, mate." Harry turned his head to look at Niall.

"How am I supposed to—"

Niall pressed his lips against Harry's, cupping his hand under Harry's cheek to hold him in place. The second their lips connected, Harry felt his whole body go slack under Niall's touch.

He flinched when Niall's phone suddenly went off, and Niall pulled back with a groan.

"That'll be Zayn, then," he mumbled with a chuckle that sounded anything but amused. "He always knows when to ruin a moment."

Harry tried to laugh in response, but it came out forced, nervous, and higher-pitched than he'd ever heard. He immediately looked away when Niall turned to look at him with an amused smile.

"Should probably call and let him know I'm perfectly fine."

"Probably," Harry said softly as he slowly let himself look back up at Niall. His smile widened and he leaned down to peck Harry's lips quickly.

"Should shower as well." He jumped off the bed and headed for the bathroom, turning around just before he went in to add, "don't miss me too much."

Harry collapsed back onto the bed as Niall disappeared into the bathroom, covering his face with his hands and again wondering just what the hell he'd gotten himself into.

He laid there until he heard Niall turn the shower on, trying to keep himself from picturing Niall taking off all of his clothes. Needless to say, it wasn't going all that well.

Harry pulled his phone out of his pocket and quickly dialed Liam's number, willing him to pick up the phone as soon as fucking possible.

"Is Galway really that bad?" Liam chuckled.

"You will never guess what just happened," Harry replied, ignoring Liam's awful Alan Rickman impression.

"What? Did Niall run off with Gemma?"

"No! He—" Harry dropped his voice, even though he was sure Niall wouldn't be able to hear him over the sound of the shower _and_ through the walls of the bathroom. "He kissed me."

" _What?!_ " Harry groaned as he heard Louis' voice in the background, demanding to know what he was saying. He opened his mouth to tell Liam not to tell Louis, but it was too late. A moment later, Louis' voice was in his ear.

"You kissed Niall Horan?!"

" _He_ kissed _me_ ," Harry clarified, rolling his eyes even though Louis couldn't see him.

"I didn't even know he was gay!"

"Neither did I! He just came out to Mum and Gemma!" Harry sighed. "Like it was no big deal whatsoever."

"Fuck, Haz. Never in a million years did I think this would turn out half as well as it did."

"Thanks," Harry replied flatly. "Remind me why we're friends again?"

"Because I get you hot dates with secretly gay popstars who want to kiss you." Harry rolled his eyes again.

"Put Liam back on, I called him for a reason."

"Twat," Louis replied in a huff. Harry waited a beat and Liam took his phone back.

"What're you going to do?"

"I have no idea," he replied with a deep sigh.

"Where is he?"

"In the shower…" Harry tried not to imagine the look Liam probably had on his face right now, knowing full well that both he and Louis were getting far too much enjoyment out of his embarrassment.

"I'm surprised you're not in there with him."

"You've been spending too much time with Louis." Harry groaned. "Liam, what am I going to do?!"

"I don't know why you're making such a big deal about this. He obviously isn't."

"Cheers, Liam. You really know how to make me feel better."

"What I'm saying is," Liam replied with a huff, "he agreed to go for a reason, yeah? Maybe he's been waiting for the right time to come out."

"So what you're saying is I'm being used for publicity?"

"Christ, Haz." Liam groaned. "That's not what I meant and you know it."

Harry sighed heavily, but remained otherwise silent. He tried not to smile as he heard Niall's singing coming from the shower, but ultimately he failed.

"Just don't overthink it, alright?" Liam said with a sigh. "And don't assume the worst just because you're scared. That's not like you."

"I know, it's just—" Harry froze when he heard the water suddenly shut off. "Shit, I have to go."

"Harry—"

"I'll talk to you later," he said quickly as he hung up on Liam and shoved his phone back in his pocket. He tried to look casual, but at the same time he didn't want to make it _look_ like he'd been waiting for Niall to come back out.

Niall emerged from the bathroom with a towel around his waist, his hair dripping with water and Harry had to force himself to look away.

"Didn't think to bring any clothes in with me," Niall said with a laugh as he started rooting around in his suitcase with one hand.

"Well that wasn't very smart, was it?" Harry muttered softly, stealing looks at Niall and imagining a number of things he could be doing that involved Niall not wearing anything.

"Or was it?" Niall turned to look at Harry with a mischievous smile and Harry's eyes widened. "You still look awfully tense, Harry."

 _Oh my god_ , Harry mumbled in his head, _this is either the start of a truly awful porno or it's actually happening and OH MY GOD_ —

Harry's thoughts were immediately cut off when Niall crawled up onto the bed, still clutching his towel with one hand as he climbed on top of Harry. He smiled as he leaned down and kissed him again, slowly pressing himself down against Harry.

Niall groaned softly into Harry's mouth as their hips met and Harry's hand flew up to grip the damp hair on the back of Niall's head. He pushed his hips up, slowly grinding them against Niall as he opened his mouth to deepen the kiss. Niall's free arm was starting to shake as it propped him up over Harry, but Harry was more preoccupied with the fact that Niall's other hand moved from holding his towel to gripping Harry's hip.

Harry moaned when Niall's fingers dug into his hip, and he could feel Niall smirk against his lips. Harry's mind was reeling, trying to rationalize this whole situation while at the same time hoping that it would never stop.

Harry's eyes snapped open when a loud knock resounded on the door, and he found that he'd imagined the whole thing. Niall was in the middle of pulling a shirt over his head and he looked at Harry, nodding towards the door.

"Right," Harry muttered under his breath, easing himself off the bed and keeping his eyes on the floor as he passed by Niall to answer the door.

He swung the door open, sighing heavily when he saw Gemma on the other side.

"What do you want, Gemma?" Harry asked as he leaned against the door. Gemma gave him an amused look, but didn't say anything about his slightly disheveled appearance.

"Mum told me to remind you we're having dinner together. In an hour."

"You could've just texted me," Harry replied in the most unimpressed tone he could muster.

"Where's the fun in that?" Gemma grinned. "Where's your _friend_ Niall?" She took a step forward to gain access into the room, but Harry wouldn't budge.

"Don't you have a fiancé you should be spending time with?"

Gemma rolled her eyes. "Please, I've got the rest of my life to spend time with him. I've only got this week to poke fun at you, little brother."

"That's it, get out!" Harry pushed her away and Gemma started laughing.

"You can't kick me out if I'm not even in the room!" she called over her shoulder, still laughing as Harry stepped back into the room and shut the door.

He sighed heavily as he walked back towards the bed, where Niall had taken up his former spot and was flipping through the channels on the TV. Instead of lying down next to him, Harry opted to shut himself up in the bathroom and take a shower.

 _A very cold shower_ , he told himself. He had a feeling if today was any indication of how the rest of the week was going to be, he was going to be taking lots of cold showers.

*

The dinner with his family and Niall went better than Harry expected, but he was positive that he spent most of the night with his face a ridiculous shade of red. His family absolutely _adored_ Niall, and apparently no one besides Harry and Gemma knew who Niall actually was.

As far as they were all concerned, Niall was just one of Harry's mates whom they'd never met or even heard about until he decided to bring him to the wedding.

And as it turned out, Niall seemed to love the fact that he could tell them stories about his own family. Harry tried not to be hopelessly endeared by every single one of them, but it was utterly futile.

Gemma, on the other hand, took every single opportunity to tell every embarrassing story about Harry from their childhood that she could think of. Even his _mum_ joined in on some of them, and Harry couldn't believe the mutiny from his own family.

He turned to Sean about halfway through the meal, asking if this had happened to him the first time he brought Gemma home. He smiled back at Harry and nodded.

"Get used to it, mate."

"Absolutely not," Harry muttered under his breath.

By the time Harry and Niall had returned to their room that night, Harry honestly wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep the rest of the week away.

But the thing he'd forgotten was the fact that they only had one bed in their room.

The same bed that Niall had kissed him on earlier. This was the bed that he had to _share_ with Niall for the rest of the week.

 _Fuck_.

"Which side d'you want?" Niall asked, and Harry wondered how the hell he could be so calm and flippant about this whole arrangement.

"Don't care," Harry mumbled in response. Niall shrugged his shoulders as he started to tug his shirt off over his head, and Harry quickly spun around to give Niall his privacy.

"Christ, mate, we're both—"

"No, it's fine," Harry mumbled again before he strode into the bathroom and shut the door.

He gripped the side of the sink and breathed heavily as he tried to rationalize how his life had come to this. Harry turned on the faucet and let the water run as he sat down on the side of the tub, pulling his phone out of his pocket and thumbing a text to Louis.

_I cannot fucking do this._

Thankfully, he didn't have to wait too long for Louis to reply.

_Do what? ARE YOU GOING TO HAVE SEX??_

_For fuck's sake NO!!!_

Harry sighed heavily, rubbing his face as he tried to think of how to put his thoughts in terms that Louis would actually understand and respond to when another text came through.

_Oh. Why not?_

Harry groaned, muttering _fuck it_ to himself before calling Louis. As soon as the call connected, he cut Louis off from saying anything.

"My family loves him."

"Wha—You mean Niall?" Louis chuckled. "Of course they do."

"What d'you mean 'of course they do'?" Harry repeated incredulously. "You haven't even met him!"

"Yeah but if you like him why wouldn’t they?" Harry sighed heavily.

"It's not even like that, though."

"Yeah, yeah, pull the other one." Louis let out a soft breath as Harry stayed silent. "Where are you anyway?"

"In the loo," Harry replied sheepishly after a few minutes.

"Christ, Haz. Are you actually _hiding_ from him?"

"No!" Harry waited a moment. "Yes."

"I'm hanging up on you." Harry couldn't even protest before Louis did just that. He sighed heavily, knowing that Louis wouldn't pick up if Harry tried calling him again.

He debated calling Liam, but he knew full well that he was probably with Louis and probably wouldn't answer either. Harry had no choice but to go back into the other room.

He stood up and splashed some water on his face, finally turning off the faucet before grabbing a towel and drying himself off. Harry caught his reflection in the mirror and stopped, staring into his own eyes and hardly recognizing himself.

 _Get a grip_ , he told himself. _You can do this._

Harry nodded firmly, turning away to open the door but just before he put his hand on the doorknob he whirled back around and stared again. He lifted a finger and pointed at himself, trying to keep his hand steady.

"No more daydreams," he muttered. The last thing he needed was to get lost in his thoughts again like he had earlier.

He stepped out of the bathroom a minute later, rounding the corner to see Niall lying in bed with the covers draped across his legs. Harry immediately looked away to not stare at Niall's bare chest.

"You alright?" Niall asked while Harry kept his back turned as he rummaged through his own bag. "You were in there a while."

"M'fine," Harry replied. "Just needed a bit of time to myself. My family can be a bit mad."

"Isn't everyone's?" Niall said with a chuckle. Harry shrugged his shoulders before tugging off his own shirt, pausing before he unbuttoned his trousers. He tried not to wonder if Niall was watching him, squashing the thought because it was exactly what he'd just told himself _not_ to do.

Harry didn't look at Niall as he climbed into bed, staying as close to the edge as he could without falling out. He knew it was stupid, acting so cold and distant to someone who hadn't really done anything at all, but Harry knew if he was going to make it through the week without becoming an absolute wreck then it had to be done.

"Bed time, then?" Niall asked. Harry grunted softly in agreement and felt the bed shift as Niall reached to turn off the light. "Night!"

"Night," Harry replied under his breath, shutting his eyes tightly and willing himself to fall asleep as quickly as possible.

*

Harry's mind and body apparently did not agree while he slept, because he awoke the next morning finding himself spooning with Niall. He'd only started to wake up because Niall was stirring, and once Harry realized what he'd been doing he practically fell off the bed from jumping back so quickly.

"Alright, mate?" Niall asked in an amused voice, thick with sleep. He chuckled as he rolled over and looked up at Harry.

"Sorry, I—"

"It's fine." Niall smiled. "I'm a cuddler, meself."

In spite of himself, Harry laughed. Niall's smile grew wider at the sound of it.

"Looks like you're back to your old self." Harry dropped his head slightly, saddened but not surprised that Niall had noticed the change in his demeanor.

He opened his mouth to apologize but was cut off by the room phone ringing, and both he and Niall stared at it in confusion. Harry slowly reached out to pick it up, holding it up to his ear while still having a look of utter confusion on his face.

"Hello?"

"Oh, good, you're up." Harry sighed and rolled his eyes at the sound of his mum's voice.

"Hi, Mum." He hardly heard a word she said, distracted by watching as Niall slipped out of bed and walked around the bed to pick out new clothes for the day ahead.

Harry watched out of the corner of his eye, adding in a few words here and there to his mum just to make it seem like he was actually paying attention. But it wasn't until Niall disappeared into the bathroom that he actually started to listen.

"Sorry, what?"

"You don't mind, do you love?"

"Mind…what?" Anne sighed and Harry chuckled nervously.

"Honestly, do you listen to a word I say? I asked if you and Niall wouldn't mind popping out to get Gemma and Sean's bonbonnieres?"

"Bon-what?" Anne sighed again.

"Their bloody favors! For the guests!"

"Right, right, sure. No problem."

"That's what I like to hear." She sighed once more, happily this time and Harry felt relieved.

"Where've I got to go, then?"

Harry had hung up with his mum and gotten dressed by the time Niall came out of the bathroom, and unlike the day before his nerves hadn't gotten the better of him.

"Hungry?" he asked.

"Always," Niall replied with a grin.

"We can either get some downstairs, or-" Harry took a deep breath, "-we can get it somewhere in town near the shop we've got to go to."

"Shop?" Niall asked. "Is that what your mum called for?"

"Yeah," Harry replied with a laugh. "We've got to pick up the wedding favors or summat."

"Fun!" Niall clapped his hands together. "Lucky for you, I know just the place for breakfast."

No more than twenty minutes later, Harry and Niall were nestled in a booth in a small restaurant just a few blocks from the hotel. The breakfast menu itself was extensive, which surprised Harry, and he had a bit of trouble figuring out what he wanted.

After they finally ordered, Harry couldn't help but sit and stare at Niall in wonder. He'd never spent any time with famous people so he had nothing to compare it to, but Harry just couldn't seem to understand how Niall was just so _normal_.

He tried to imagine what Niall had been like before he'd become famous. He wondered if he'd changed at all, because the more time he spent with him it seemed like he was the most genuine person he'd ever met.

"So what are we getting today?" Niall asked, snapping Harry out of his thoughts.

"Shot glasses, apparently." Harry shrugged his shoulders and Niall laughed.

"Very Irish, I like it."

The waitress came around with their food not too long after, and Harry was thankful for the silence that fell between them as they ate. However, fate proved to be extra cruel in Harry's mind as a familiar song came onto the radio playing in the background.

Niall chuckled to himself as Harry's cheeks turned red, surprised to hear Niall start singing along to his own voice softly.

"D'you ever get used to it?" he asked, staring down at his plate to avoid eye contact with Niall.

"What, hearing meself on the radio?" Niall chuckled. "Not really. Especially not this song."

"Why?" Harry asked, taking a chance by looking up. Niall chuckled again and sat back against the booth behind him, pausing to listen to the chorus that had just begun.

"Because I'm still rather pissed that they made me change the original lyric I wrote for it."

Harry blinked. "What?"

"… _get out of my head and fall into my arms instead_ ," Niall sang softly, "I originally wrote 'fall into my bed instead' but management made me change it because they said it 'sent the wrong message' or some shit."

Harry tried to hold back his laughter but failed when Niall started snickering.

"I dunno what they were on about, I thought it got the message quite right."

"You could say that," Harry replied with a laugh. Niall caught his eye and grinned.

"You'll never hear it the same way again, will you?" Harry smiled back and shook his head.

"Never."

*

Harry was never good with directions, and even though the shop where he had to pick up the favors was only a few blocks away, there was still a good chance he could get lost. Niall kept quiet as he followed Harry through the streets of Galway, smiling as he watched Harry try to make sense of the directions Anne had given him.

"Harry?"

"What?" he asked, amidst the mumbling under his breath that had been going on for the last ten minutes.

Niall chuckled lightly. "Are we lost?"

"No!" Harry groaned, turning around to face Niall with a frown. "Why would you say that?"

"Because we've circled this block three times now."

"Fuck me," Harry grumbled, slumping down against a wall and giving Niall a helpless shrug. "I'm rubbish at this."

Niall shrugged his shoulders. "S'cute. Here, lemme see."

Harry handed over his phone, hoping Niall didn't see the way his cheeks flared up at his previous statement. Niall began tapping away on the screen, keeping it tilted away from Harry so he couldn't see what he was doing.

After a minute or two, Niall handed it back to him with a smile.

"C'mon, it's this way."

Harry got to his feet, shoving his phone into his pocket and following Niall sheepishly as he led them the rest of the way. As it turned out, they were only two blocks away and if Harry had just stopped taking left turns they would've found it no problem.

Niall wandered about the shop as Harry gave his information to the clerk, who disappeared for a moment and reappeared with a sample shot glass to show him. He held it carefully, admiring the simple (and slightly ridiculous) engraving that was to adorn each one.

_Gemma & Sean_

_May 26 th 2014_

_DRINK UP!_

"That's lovely," Niall said softly, making Harry jump. Niall chuckled lightly as Harry quickly handed the shot glass back, extremely grateful that he hadn't dropped it.

"I have a feeling Sean was behind the last bit," Harry laughed as the clerk disappeared again to fetch the boxes with the rest of the glasses.

"A true Irish gentleman, yeah?" Niall grinned.

"If only all Irishmen were like Sean," Harry teased lightly, turning his head away from Niall but keeping him in his sight out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, that hurts!" Niall clutched his chest over his heart, just barely able to hold back his laughter. "I'll have you know that I am a true Irish gentleman as well!"

"Really?" Harry asked, a smile quirking at his lips. "That I find hard to believe."

"I'll have to prove it to you then, won't I?"

Harry stayed silent, not trusting his words as he bit his lip to keep back the large smile that was threatening to take over his features. Niall nudged his elbow, smiling to himself as he leaned on the counter.

"Just the glasses, then?"

"Yep," Harry replied. "That's all I was told to get."

"Well that's just not acceptable," Niall said as he shook his head, pushing himself off the counter and striding towards the door. "Back in a mo!"

"Wha—Niall!" Harry called, but Niall slipped through the door with a grin and took off down the street without saying another word.

Harry was a bit floored by the fact that Niall had just left him entirely alone in the shop. He didn't think that Niall wasn't ever coming back, but as quickly as that thought came to mind so did the memory of Zayn's icy stare when he told Harry not to let anything happen to him.

He nearly pulled out his phone to check to see if Zayn texted him, vaguely wondering if he had a sixth sense for Niall doing stupid things and whether Harry would be blamed if something went terribly wrong.

But the clerk came back before Harry could get his phone from his pocket, and soon Harry was standing outside the shop looking around for Niall with several boxes full of shot glasses in his arms. He gently set them down on the bench in front of the shop before he sat down next to them and finally pulled out his phone.

There were no texts from Zayn and Harry let out a small sigh of relief, but his heart immediately started to race when he realized he _did_ have a text waiting for him.

**On my way back now, don't leave without me! :)**

"What the…" Harry covered his face with one hand, almost as if he was trying to wipe the smile off of his face by force.

He wondered for a moment how Niall had managed to put himself in Harry's phone when he realized that he'd handed his phone over. _Sneaky Irish bastard_ , he thought to himself as he slipped his phone back into his pocket and leaned back against the bench.

Niall popped up around the corner a few minutes later, and Harry eyed him warily.

"Where'd you run off to?" Niall grinned.

"Never you mind." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Well c'mon then, help me with these boxes."

They opted to hail a cab to get the boxes back to the hotel, because Harry was not confident at all that he'd manage to avoid dropping one. His mum was in the lobby waiting for them, smiling widely when she caught sight of them.

"There you are!"

"As promised," Harry said as he held up the boxes in his arms. "Where d'you want them?"

"We'll keep them in my room for now," she said as she led them over to the elevators, "along with what Niall had sent over."

"What?" Harry asked as Anne smiled at Niall, who winked in return. He turned around to face Niall, "what's she on about?"

"Oh, hush, you'll see in a minute." She ushered them into the elevator and promptly ignored Harry repeating his question in favor of talking to Niall.

Harry followed the other two off the elevator and towards his mum's room, definitely not expecting what he saw once he stepped inside. There were probably about ten large bags scattered about her room, each one filled with tons of tiny bottles of Jameson.

"What the…" Harry said as he quickly set his boxes down and went to inspect one of the bags. "What's all this?"

"Well what good's a shot glass if you've got nothing to drink?" Niall stated as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which, the more Harry thought about it, was actually true.

"But you didn't have to—" Niall waved his hand.

"It's nothing. Think of it as my gift to the bride and groom." Harry chuckled.

"And to yourself, really."

"Harry!" Anne chided, and Niall snickered.

"You've got me there." Harry smiled, walking back towards Niall to give him a quick hug.

"You really didn't have to," he mumbled as his mum started rambling on about something that Harry paid absolutely no attention to once he felt Niall's breath on his neck.

"I may have sent a slightly larger bottle to our room as well." Niall grinned cheekily as he turned his attention to Anne, somehow able to join in on the seemingly one-sided conversation.

Harry, on the other hand, was far too preoccupied with the implications of Niall's words to be bothered with joining in on their conversation.

His mind was reeling with thoughts and questions, and try as he might he could hardly keep his mind on one topic. He repeated his mantra _no more daydreams_ silently to himself, but when he shut his eyes in the hopes that he'd get a moment's peace it was all over.

Immediately he felt Niall's lips on his again, and his mind flashed with images of Niall hovering over him. Both of them breathing heavily and eager to touch and taste every inch of skin they could uncover, sending shivers down Harry's spine as he forced his eyes open again.

He hardly registered his mum shooing the two of them out of her room and back to their own. If Niall hadn't taken a hold of his arm and led him down the hallway, it was very likely that Harry would've stood frozen in the hallway for the remainder of the day.

"You alright?" Niall asked once they'd both stepped through the door to their room. Harry stopped in his tracks when he saw the aforementioned bottle of Jameson on one of the tables next to their bed, and the next thing he knew he had spun on his heels and looked Niall straight in the eye as he spoke.

"Why'd you kiss me?"

Niall chuckled, nervously bringing his hand up to scratch the back of his neck before he answered.

"Because I wanted to?"

"But why?" Harry asked again, though before Niall could speak he started to babble. "And why'd you come out to my mum and Gemma? Like it was nothing at all…"

"It's not that big—"

"But it is, innit?" Harry interrupted. "I mean, if you can come out to them then why not—"

"I'm going to stop you right there, Harry." Niall chuckled lightly, but it sounded more forced than Harry had ever heard. "Telling two people that I'm gay is far easier than telling the whole bloody world."

"But…why?" Harry said again, unable to keep the words from coming out.

Niall shrugged. "Dunno, really. May have had something to do with you being so adamant that I was straight."

Harry winced. "Sorry."

"Don't be," Niall replied as he passed by Harry to sit down on the edge of the bed. "Like I tried to say before, it's not that big a deal." He chuckled. "Well, at least I don't think so. Zayn wasn't all that happy when I told him."

"Oh god," Harry groaned and closed his eyes. "I'm so sorry, they won't say anything, I know—"

"Harry," Niall reached out to take his hand, and Harry immediately lost his words. "It's alright. I knew right away that your mum and sister aren't the type that would do that."

He gently pulled Harry forward until he was standing between Niall's legs. Harry couldn't help himself, he started to shake under Niall's gaze and he shivered when Niall laced their fingers together.

"Don't worry about anything, alright?" Harry forced a laugh and then took a deep breath.

"Sorry," he mumbled, "but Zayn absolutely terrified me."

"He does that," Niall answered with a laugh. "He's a big softie, really. Bark's worse than bite and all that."

"Definitely fooled me." Harry bit his lip, suddenly finding himself unable to say the words that were on the tip of his tongue.

Niall's grip on his hands tightened suddenly, almost pulling Harry closer to him but loosening at the last moment when his phone went off. Niall groaned and Harry couldn't help the chuckle that escaped his lips.

"I'm telling you," Niall grumbled as he pulled his phone out of his pocket, "Zayn has a fucking sixth sense for this shit."

Harry chuckled again as Niall answered the call, falling back onto the bed as he turned on speakerphone.

"This better be good, Malik."

"Just checking in to make sure you haven't done any more stupid shit, Horan."

"Not unless you call buying a fuckload of booze stupid shit," he replied with a cheeky smile that Harry rolled his eyes at.

"I would, actually," Zayn replied with a huff. "Have you been drinking already? You sound funny."

"Nah, you're on speakerphone. Say hi to Harry, Zayn."

"Niall, you twat." Harry clasped his hand over his mouth to stifle his laughter and Niall grinned.

"That's not nice, Zayn. You already terrified him at the train station, y'know."

"Good. Maybe he can keep you on a tight leash, then."

"Sounds kinky," Niall said, winking at Harry. "Might have to try that."

"Christ, I can't leave you alone for a day, can I?" Zayn sighed.

"You could, you just don't want to." Niall frowned as Harry stepped back, sitting down on the opposite corner of the bed. "But you're gonna have to because I'm hanging up."

Niall cut off Zayn's reply and tossed his phone onto the bed behind him before rolling over to face Harry. He smiled, and Harry cracked a soft smile in response.

"Hi."

"Hi," Harry replied with a light laugh.

"So…" Niall let out a breath as he glanced at the bottle across the room. "Wanna get drunk?"

Harry rolled his eyes. "It's the middle of the afternoon."

"So? It's Ireland!" Harry laughed. "We're actually starting late, if you think about it. Most folk around here have been drunk for ages."

"Whatever you say," Harry replied with a smile, not moving an inch to prevent Niall from getting up to grab the bottle.

*

Harry and Niall ended up spending the rest of the day and night in their hotel room, managing to finish the entire bottle of Jameson before 10 o'clock. By the time they were halfway through the bottle, they ordered practically everything on the room service menu. They sprawled out on the bed with a dozen different plates and Harry was barely coherent enough to eat off of one while Niall wolfed down the food from all the rest.

It also didn't help that Niall wouldn't stop making Harry laugh, distracting him both from eating and keeping track of how much he'd had to drink. The more Harry drank, the more his mantra _no more daydreams_ faded from his mind and he no longer cared about stopping himself from openly staring at Niall's lips.

"All gone," Niall said with a heavy sigh as he tipped the bottle upside down and frowned at Harry.

"Should've bought two," Harry replied, giggling as he pushed plates out of his way so he could move closer to Niall.

"We could nick some from your mum's room."

"But it's so far," Harry whined, moving even closer to bury his head into Niall's shoulder. Niall chuckled, petting Harry's hair as he slid down on the bed to snuggle up to Harry. He accidentally kicked one of the plates near his feet, causing it to fall off the bed and clatter to the floor.

"Shit," Niall grumbled as he glanced down to look at the mess, but Harry wrapped his arm around Niall's waist to keep him there.

"Comfy," he mumbled into Niall's shoulder as he closed his eyes and sighed happily.

"You're a cuddly drunk, aren't you?" Niall asked amusedly and Harry hummed.

"Comfy," he repeated, tightening his grip around Niall's waist. He slipped his fingers underneath the hem of Niall's t-shirt, smiling when he felt Niall stiffen and heard his breath catch.

Unfortunately for Harry, that was the last thing he remembered from the night before he passed out and ended up drooling on Niall.

When he woke up the following morning, he could hardly open his eyes without cringing. His head was pounding and he felt nauseous due to his hangover, but they were both overtaken by embarrassment when he realized he was still hanging all over Niall, using him like a human pillow. Niall didn't seem to mind, seeing as how his arms were wrapped around Harry and he was sound asleep with a smile on his face.

Harry carefully extracted himself from Niall's arms, moving slow enough to keep his head from spinning, but it was all in vain because he'd completely forgotten about the plates stacked at the foot of the bed.

"Fuckin' klutz," Niall mumbled, his eyes still closed but an amused smirk spreading across his face as quickly as Harry was turning red.

"Sorry," he whispered, clutching his head as the crash of plates had caused it to start throbbing again. He shifted to slide off the bed, but Niall's hand closed around his wrist and prevented him from leaving.

"Come back here. I was comfy."

Harry groaned as he collapsed back onto the bed, burying his head face-first into the pillow he'd neglected all night in favor of Niall's chest. Niall rolled over and latched onto Harry almost in the same way Harry had woken up moments ago.

Niall took a breath, about to say something, when a loud knock resounded at the door followed by Gemma shouting through it.

"GET YOUR LAZY, DRUNK ASSES UP AND COME DOWN FOR BREAKFAST!"

"Worst. Sister. Ever," Harry grumbled into the pillow before he turned his head towards Niall. "Hi."

"Hi." Niall laughed softly. "Breakfast?"

Harry groaned. "How can you even think about food?"

"I love food. Especially breakfast!" Niall sighed dreamily. "Eggs, bacon, sausages, toast…" Harry groaned again.

"God, shut up," he moaned, rolling over onto his back and clutching his stomach.

Niall chuckled. "C'mon, time to get up."

"Traitor," Harry mumbled as Niall rolled out of bed and started rooting around in his suitcase for a fresh pair of clothes.

"C'mon, Harry, I want breakfast!"

"Why don't you have a hangover?" Harry grumbled, still not moving to get off the bed.

"Irish."

"Bastard." Niall grinned.

"Get up, yeah?" He tossed some of Harry's clothes at him and chuckled. "You were all too eager to earlier."

"Shut up," Harry said, biting back a sheepish smile.

Harry and Niall managed to make it downstairs for breakfast half an hour later, despite the constant grumbling from Harry that he was far too hungover for any of this. He pointedly ignored the smirk on Gemma's face when they passed by the table she was sitting at with Sean on their way to the buffet set up on the other side of the room. He reluctantly withstood gentle teasing from his mum who found him as he was waiting for his toast to pop.

"And to think you told me Niall was just a mate," she cooed, pinching Harry's cheek before walking away. Harry groaned loudly, snatching his toast and cursing when it burned his fingers.

"Alright?" Niall asked as he came up behind him. Harry turned to tell him _no I'm not bloody alright_ but was distracted by the enormous amount of food that Niall had heaped onto a single plate.

"Seriously?"

"What?" Niall looked genuinely confused. "Did you already forget who ate most of the room service last night?"

Niall winked as he strode off to grab a table, leaving Harry behind to shake his head as he watched him walk away. He followed a moment later after grabbing a bottle of water, wondering if his hangover would go away faster if Niall kept putting him in such a good mood.

Harry stayed in a good mood as he watched Niall devour everything he'd gotten from the buffet, including poaching one of the slices of toast that Harry had fixed for himself. He didn't mind, since after just one bite his stomach lurched and he quickly pushed the plate away in favor of gulping down water instead.

"I'm going back for more," Niall said as he stood up. "Want anything?"

"Absolutely not," Harry answered with a shake of his head.

"Right, try not to miss me." Niall winked before he left the table, practically running back to the food. Harry watched and smiled fondly, though the smile disappeared a second later when he heard his name being shouted in a shrill voice he wished he didn't recognize.

"Fuck me," he grumbled under his breath before a pair of arms wrapped around his neck and nearly sent him headfirst into the table.

"I knew that was you!"

"Hi, Taylor." Harry cleared his throat as she pulled Niall's chair around the table and sat down, immediately scooting it towards him until she was uncomfortably close.

"Can you believe it?" She smiled sweetly and Harry tried his best not to visibly gag.

"Yeah, Gemma's getting married." Taylor rolled her eyes.

"Not that, silly. That we're both here!"

"Well, Gemma _is_ getting married…" Harry sighed softly, trying to subtly turn in his seat and send a pleading look to Gemma to get Taylor away from him as soon as possible.

"You'll have to save me a dance. Or two." She beamed as she threw her arm around Harry's shoulder. "Wouldn't it be so perfect if Gemma's wedding brought us together? Like, it would just be magical!"

"Taylor, I've told you—"

"Meant to be!" Taylor interrupted, hardly hearing a word he said. Harry sighed heavily, tuning out her babble about her trip there, and not-so-subtly mentioning her room number _three times_.

"What's all this?" Harry looked up and nearly cried in relief when he saw Niall set his plate down.

"Who're you?" Taylor asked, clearly confused and Harry had to bite back a laugh at the look on her face.

"M'Niall. Why're you in my seat?"

"Oh! Sorry!" She shot up and Niall quickly grabbed his chair back, sitting down immediately after.

Taylor started talking again as Niall began eating, but Harry paid no attention to a thing she said. His gaze drifted to where Niall's hand was stretched towards him, and he reached out to lace their fingers. Barely pausing mid-bite, Niall raised his eyebrows at Harry who returned his look with a smile.

"Harry, are you listening?"

"Hmm, what?" Niall snorted in laughter at Harry, but he didn't pull his hand away. Taylor looked down at them, her eyes flickering from Harry to Niall and their interlaced hands.

"Who are you, again?" she asked, turning her attention back to Niall.

"Niall," he answered through a mouthful of food. She made a small noise of disgust as he swallowed and then beamed. "Harry's date."

"His…wh—"

Harry bit his lip to keep from laughing and tightened his grip on Niall's hand in thanks. Niall kept a straight face, continuing to smile up at Taylor as she became mildly flustered.

"I'm—You—I have to go."

Niall waited until she was far enough away before bursting into laughter, Harry following shortly after.

"What the fuck was that?" he asked, still not pulling his hand away.

" _That_ is someone I need to actively avoid for the rest of the week." Harry sighed. "She's a mate of Gemma's who literally will not leave me alone."

"She's in proper love with you, yeah?" Niall smirked.

"Don't remind me," Harry groaned. "She laughed when I told her I was gay. Said I just needed the right girl."

Niall almost dropped his fork. "She did not fucking say that."

"She did." Harry chuckled lightly, rubbing his thumb along Niall's knuckles. "Seems to think she's that girl, I s'pose."

"That's bullshit." Niall shook his head. "I can't stand that shit."

Harry shrugged. "M'used to it, more or less."

"You shouldn't have to be!" Niall scoffed. "People like that make me sick. Like, how fucked are you that you can't accept someone for who they are? The world would be a hell of a lot better if everyone just stopped trying to change to fit some impossible mould that won't make them happy."

"Yeah, but—"

"But what?" Niall sighed. "It's shit. At the end of the day, it's you against the world. Everyone else is just a sidekick from time to time." Harry blinked.

"How very superhero of you," he teased with a light laugh.

"Blame Zayn," Niall replied, shrugging his shoulders as he half-smiled. He looked down at Harry's hand, lifting it high enough that he could lean forward to press his lips against the knuckles. "Y'know that this means, yeah?"

"What?" Harry asked in a whisper, his voice having dropped after feeling Niall's lips on him again. Niall grinned widely.

"Means I'm your proper date now."

"Oh god," Harry groaned, chuckling as he tried to pull his hand back but Niall wouldn't let go. "What's that mean, exactly?"

"You'll find out."

*

It wasn't that Harry had necessarily _forgotten_ that Louis and Liam were showing up that day, it was just he was a tad preoccupied with being extremely thankful for Niall rescuing him from Taylor. Needless to say, he was not expecting to be tackled to the floor when he opened the door to his and Niall's room.

"What the fuck, Lou?" he groaned as Louis sat up but made no further move to get off of him.

"That's what you get for not picking us up!" Louis huffed as he crossed his arms. Liam stood behind him and shrugged his shoulders.

"We tried calling," he said as he sidestepped the pair of them to walk further into the room, "seems you were busy," he added as he gave Niall an amused look.

"You must be Liam!" Niall said with a grin, sliding off the bed and jogging over to give him a hug.

"Talking about us behind our backs, Haz?" Liam asked, looking down at Harry who was still pinned underneath Louis.

"Terrible things. All the truth, mind you." He grunted, finally shoving Louis off and kicking the door closed.

"Prick," Louis muttered, nudging Harry with his foot not hard enough to be considered a kick but hard enough to make him wince. "I'm Louis."

Niall shook his outstretched hand and laughed. "Niall. Good to meet you."

Harry picked himself up off the floor, collapsing onto the bed a moment later with a loud groan. "I didn't mean to forget to pick you up," he mumbled into the duvet.

"Had a bit of a rough morning," Niall explained with an amused grin. "Hungover and having to deal with a blonde nightmare."

"I hope you're not talking about yourself," Liam said with a slight frown. Niall laughed heartily and Harry rolled onto his back.

"Taylor."

Both Louis and Liam inhaled sharply, causing Niall to start snickering. Harry groaned again and covered his face with his hands.

"You had to deal with Taylor?" Louis asked, giving Niall a sympathetic look. "Apologies, mate. That's worse than having to deal with Haz, here."

"Hey," Harry whined as he pulled his hands away. "That's not nice."

"You're dead to me, Haz." Louis rolled his eyes. "Demoted from best mate to tosser I hardly know."

"Prat," Harry mumbled as someone knocked lightly on the door. The four of them froze momentarily, Niall being the first to move towards it and check through the peephole.

"It's your mum!" he called over his shoulder as he opened the door. "Hello, Anne!"

"Hello Niall, love. Is Harry in here?" He stepped back to let her through and she smiled as she saw Liam and Louis. "When did you boys get in?" she asked as she hugged each of them in turn.

"Just now," Liam replied. "Gemma sent us this way, she's looking lovely."

"So're you," Anne cooed as she pinched Liam's cheek lightly.

"We would've been here earlier if not for your twat of a son forgetting to pick us up at the train station."

"I said I was sorry!" Harry grumbled.

"Harry's been a bit preoccupied," Anne said with a smirk that Harry knew Louis would never, _ever_ let him live down. "Been forgetting all sorts of things, like the rehearsal dinner that's in _half an hour._ "

She turned to give Harry a pointed look and he groaned in response.

"Shit, mum, sorry. I'll be downstairs in fifteen, yeah?"

"You'd better. I'll not have you ruin your sister's wedding before it's even started," she chastised, though her smile made it far less harsh than it sounded.

Louis waited until Anne had left before he sat down onto the bed and laughed at Harry. "Someone's in trouble."

"You should get ready, Harry," Niall said as he walked over, tugging on Harry's arms to get him off the bed.

"Yeah, yeah," Harry grumbled as he let Niall pull him up. He shuffled over to the closer to pull out the set of nice trousers he'd hung up, turning back to the others a moment later. "You lot are coming to the bachelor party still, yeah?"

"Wouldn't miss it," Louis replied with a smirk.

"Try not to get too smashed beforehand, please, Lou?" Louis rolled his eyes.

"Yes, _mum_." He held up two fingers in a salute. "Scout's honor."

"You were never a scout."

"Liam was!"

"That doesn't make you one by association, Lou." Liam chuckled lightly and Louis pouted.

"Well that's shit. The whole thing's a load of rubbish."

"S'why I quit," Liam replied. Harry sighed heavily, rolling his eyes before he looked at Niall. He offered an amused smile, which made Harry's cheeks turn the slightest shade of pink before he turned towards the door to the bathroom and slipped inside.

As he changed his clothes and tried to tame his mop of unruly hair, his mind wandered with the possibilities of what could go wrong by leaving Niall with Louis and Liam. After several terrifyingly embarrassing thoughts, he forced himself to stop worrying about immediately.

"It'll be fine," he assured himself.

Truth be told, that was the biggest lie Harry had ever told himself.

He should've turned his phone off after the first text from Louis, one that read _we're going out for dinnerrrr_ with more smiley emojis than Harry had ever seen Louis use. But instead, he replied with _should I be worried?_ In retrospect, he knew by just asking that he'd already put too many ideas in Louis' head.

_Mayyyybe!_

_I don't like the sound of that._

Harry endured a number of glares when his phone went off during the ceremony rehearsal, including ones from both his mum and Gemma. He fumbled for his phone in his pocket, switching it to silent immediately and apologizing.

"Won't happen tomorrow," he mumbled after another nasty glare from Gemma. "Promise."

"Better not," she grumbled back. He looked down, catching a glimpse of Louis' text on his screen and immediately regretting it as he shoved it back into his pocket.

_He talks a lot with his hands…think he knows how to use them?_

"Fucking hell, Lou," he muttered under his breath.

Harry restrained himself from checking his phone on the short car ride to the restaurant where the rehearsal dinner was being held, distracting himself by keeping up with the conversation between his mum and Robin.

He stayed distracted throughout the meal, hooked into conversations with the other members of the wedding party and family members he hadn't seen in ages. Before he knew it, the meal was over and he was being ushered into a car with the rest of the groomsmen and Sean. Harry finally took his phone out of his pocket to text Louis where they were going when he saw that Louis had sent him three, each one making Harry's cheeks burn brighter than the last.

_He's very energetic…wonder if he's like that in bed too._

_His mouth is even more obscene when wrapped around a bottle oh my god._

_Have you seen the callouses on his fingers? Wonder what they'd feel like on a cock…_

"Jesus, Lou." Harry sighed heavily before punching out a quick text with the name of the pub, immediately pocketing his phone and rubbing his face in an effort to hide the fact that he was blushing.

"You alright?" Sean asked, gently knocking his knuckles against Harry's knee.

"Yeah," Harry replied with a light chuckle. "Louis is a bit of a twat, is all."

"So I've heard," Sean replied with a laugh. "It'll be good to put a face to a name."

"Oh, you won't soon forget Louis," Harry mumbled.

They arrived at the pub not too long after, and as Harry shuffled in at the back of the group he tried to reassure himself that this night wasn't going to turn out as awful as he feared. He followed the group to the bar to get their first round, not expecting to have a pair of arms wrap around his waist before he could get his order out.

"There you are!" Louis grinned against the back of Harry's neck and he chuckled.

"Christ, Lou, drunk already?"

"No!" Louis let go of Harry and stumbled back. "Alright, maybe a little."

"Where're the others?" Harry asked once he'd managed to order a drink. Louis gestured behind him and he looked to see Liam and Niall at a table not that far off from where they were standing.

"Been waiting a while. Is this Sean?"

Harry tore his eyes away from Niall who was deep in what looked like a hilarious conversation with Liam – simply judging on how often they both laughed – and introduced Louis to Sean and the rest of the wedding party. Louis insisted that they needed a round of shots to celebrate Sean's upcoming nuptials, though nobody apart from Harry seemed opposed to the idea.

Louis waved Liam and Niall over for the round, and Harry noted the way that Niall hung on Liam for support as they made their way towards the bar. He raised an eyebrow when Niall shuffled forward and leaned on his shoulder with a drunken smile.

"See you've been drinking as well," he murmured.

"Just a bit. Promise." Niall's smile widened as he was passed a shot by Louis. He clinked the small glass with Harry's before toasting to Sean and then knocking it back in one gulp.

"Now, who's up for a round of billiards?" Louis asked loudly as he clapped his hands and rubbed them together. Harry and Liam shared a look of amusement mixed with the knowledge that little good could come from such a request.

"Me!" Niall said as he switched his position from hanging onto Harry to hanging onto Louis, the pair of them shuffling off to the other side of the pub with a few of the groomsmen following.

"Gemma wasn't kidding," Sean commented lightly once the others had left.

"He's a handful," Harry replied. "Sean, this is Liam. He's Louis' caretaker."

"Good to meet you," Sean said as he shook Liam's hand.

"Likewise. Congrats!" Liam punched Harry's shoulder lightly. "That's from Louis, you know he'd do it himself if he'd heard that comment."

"See? It's true." Harry looked at Sean who returned it with an amused smile.

"Yeah, yeah." Liam shook his head as he turned to look at Louis who was leaning on a pool cue as if it was the only thing that was going to keep him upright. "I'd better go before he snaps that in half."

Harry managed to keep his distance from Niall, for the sake of keeping his heart from escaping his chest. It still fluttered whenever he would glance in Niall's direction, but he didn't look at him all that often. Maybe once or twice an hour. Or every five minutes, but he wasn't really counting.

He pulled his phone from his pocket to check the time just as a text from Louis came through. He looked up to find Louis standing behind Niall across the room from him with a smirk on his face. Harry was about to put his phone back in his pocket when Louis glared at him, shaking his phone at him until Harry relented and opened the message.

It was a picture that Louis had obviously just taken of Niall bent over the pool table to make a shot with the caption _nice view_ followed by not just a wink emoji but a kissy-face one as well.

Harry groaned under his breath, cursing Louis a hundred times in his head as he quickly shoved his phone back in his pocket and glared at Louis. He happily smirked back at Harry before wandering over to tuck himself under Liam's arm.

Harry slowly made his way across the room to where Niall had just given up on trying to win the game he'd been playing against Sean's best man. He threw his arms around Harry again when he got close enough, causing them both to stumble back away from the table.

"No more for you," Harry teased lightly after Niall had mumbled something about wanting another drink into his shoulder.

"Where's Lou? He'd get me another drink!"

"And I'm definitely keeping you away from him now," Harry replied. "Dunno why I let him take you out in the first place."

"I love Louis! And Liam! They're both brilliant!" Niall announced with a slight giggle. Harry rolled his eyes as he heard Louis' voice from somewhere behind them.

"Thank you! I am brilliant." Harry turned his head to see Liam press a kiss to the top of Louis' head and mumble something that looked like "yes, you're brilliant now shut up."

"Now you've done it," Harry said with a soft chuckle. "We'll never hear the end of that."

"You're brilliant too." Niall sighed happily as he leaned against Harry more and tightened his grip. "D'you know that? Everyone thinks so. Louis, Liam, your mum…everyone."

"Niall," Harry mumbled softly, feeling his cheeks burn with embarrassment.

"No, m'serious! Like, Louis was telling me how this all started and I was flattered to begin with but now that I know you…I just can't imagine not, y'know?"

"W-What?" Harry choked out, his legs starting to feel unsteady as his heart started pounding. If Niall was going to keep talking, Harry wasn't sure whether he'd be able to keep the both of them upright.

"It's just—just hard, y'know? To meet someone on the road and shit, like, someone who won't sell me out for their own fucking fifteen minutes of fame—" Niall hiccupped and then groaned, "—not that you would, I know you wouldn't and that's what I'm saying, like, you're just so genuine and sweet and you know who you are and you're allowed to be you and I envy that, man. You've no idea how many times I've wanted to say fuck you to management and just come out but I can't, I just can't, you know?"

Niall paused to take a breath and Harry felt like he was about to pass out. It could've had to do with the fact that he'd been unwittingly holding his breath as Niall talked, but he had a feeling it also had something to do with what Niall had just said.

 _He hardly knows me_ , Harry thought to himself.

"I can hear you thinking," Niall said with a laugh, followed by a deep sigh. "When can we go home?"

"H-Home?" Harry stuttered, his voice sounding broken and foreign to his own ears.

Niall laughed again. "Shit, you know what I mean. Back at the hotel, like."

"I dunno," Harry replied with a sigh. "Soon, maybe?"

"Good." Harry could practically hear the grin in his voice. "Can't wait. M'sleepy."

*

Harry ended up having to more or less carry Niall back to the hotel that night, followed closely by Liam carrying Louis. It wasn't as difficult as Harry had expected, mainly because Niall wasn't resisting to leave the pub like Louis had been. But once he'd been wrapped up into Liam's arms, he fell asleep almost instantly and Liam rolled his eyes.

"He's such a child sometimes."

"Yeah," Harry grunted as he fought to keep Niall upright in the elevator up to their floor, "a child who's well into his twenties and drinks too much."

"Yeah," Liam hummed softly as he pressed a kiss to Louis' forehead. "Good thing he's cute."

They parted ways to head to their respective rooms, and Harry had to let Niall slump down to the floor so he could open their door properly. He dragged him over the threshold and managed to get him onto the bed before he returned to shut the door.

As he started to empty his own pockets, deciding that Niall could sleep in his clothes that night considering he'd all but passed out already, the screen of his phone flashed with a call from Zayn. Harry bit his lip and hesitated, looking over his shoulder at Niall for a moment before he decided to answer.

"Hello?"

"What the fuck have you done with Niall?!" Zayn demanded. "He's not answering!"

"Niall is…" Harry trailed off as he turned to face Niall who was now snoring softly into the pillows, "…indisposed."

"Christ, drunk again?"

"Yeah," Harry answered softly as he scratched the back of his head. "It was Sean's bachelor party tonight and he went out with my mates beforehand—"

"You left him alone with people he didn't know?"

"No! Well, kind of. They're good people, they wouldn't—"

"I never should've let him do this," Zayn interrupted with a heavy sigh. "He's too trusting and too much of a fucking romantic for this shit. I should've gotten on the train after the texts he sent—"

"What texts?" Harry asked, but Zayn ignored it.

"Just tell him to call me when he wakes up, alright?" Zayn huffed. "He'll be in a load of trouble when he gets back."

"Alright," Harry replied, managing to get it out right before Zayn hung up. He tossed his phone onto the table and crawled into bed, rolling onto his side to look at Niall.

Part of Harry wanted to wake him up and ask him about the texts he'd sent Zayn, but the more sensible part told him it was none of his business. _None of his life is my business_ , he admitted silently as he rolled away from Niall and shut his eyes.

Harry slept fitfully, waking up every few hours but keeping his eyes firmly shut as he willed himself to go back to sleep and not check on Niall. He finally opened his eyes around 7:30, coming to the conclusion that he was driving himself mad by pretending to still be asleep.

He glanced at Niall quickly as he got up from the bed, seeing that he was still fast asleep. Harry pulled a jumper over his head and swiped his key from the table, leaving his phone there before he left the room to get some breakfast.

Harry managed to not run into anyone he knew, which was a feat in itself, as he filled up two plates with food. He ignored the voice in the back of his mind that told him that bringing Niall breakfast in bed was going too far. He told himself repeatedly that if he were sharing a room with Liam or Louis he'd be doing the same thing.

When he returned to his room, he paused at the door and realized he hadn't exactly planned how he was going to open it with two plates in his hands. He was in the middle of debating whether he'd be alright with putting one of them on the floor when he heard Niall's voice through the door.

"Can you just be my best mate for five minutes and be happy for me?!"

Harry froze, knowing full well he should not be standing at the door listening to this obviously private conversation between Niall and Zayn.

"No, you're not! You're not listening to me! I'm telling you I might be falling for this guy, and all you're worried about is the bloody press finding out!"

It took every ounce of Harry's strength not to drop the plates in his hands as he felt his whole body start to shake. Niall couldn't possibly be talking about him, could he?

"He's not like that, Zayn." Niall sighed heavily. "He's different. No, I can't explain it but if you'd just give him a fucking chance you'd see."

Harry pressed his forehead against the door and inhaled deeply, lifting his head a moment later and checking the hallway to make sure nobody saw him hovering outside the room like a madman.

"Yeah, alright. I'll see you tomorrow." Niall's voice sounded wrecked as he sighed again, and Harry tried to not let the sound break his heart.

Harry walked back to the elevators and set the plates down on the table across from them and took a deep breath as he fished his room key out of his back pocket. He held it between his teeth as he picked the plates back up and slowly walked back to his door. It took a few tries, but he was able to unlock the door and press down the handle with his elbow to let himself in.

He tried to show no emotion on his face as he stepped into the room and saw Niall sitting on the bed with a frown. He looked up at Harry when he entered and gave him a weird look, a small smile creeping across his face as he saw the plates of food and the key card in his mouth.

"How the hell did you get through the door?" he asked as he took one of the plates from Harry.

"Very carefully," Harry replied with a smile once he'd removed the key from his mouth and tossed it onto the table. He climbed onto the bed and sat opposite Niall, both of them trying hard not to meet the other's eyes.

"Sorry about last night," Niall spoke up, "I didn't mean to make you carry me home."

"Don't worry about it," Harry said with a soft laugh. "It wasn't that bad."

Niall nodded and sighed heavily. "M'also sorry for going on like I did. You didn't need to hear that." Harry looked up, but Niall was still staring down at his plate.

"Don't apologize for that."

"But I should." Niall sighed again. "I shouldn't be complaining when I've got it so good, y'know?" He looked up at Harry and shrugged his shoulders. "I can't expect someone to feel sorry for me for one shitty thing when the rest of my life is so much more than I ever could've expected."

"That's shit," Harry said as he shook his head. "Just because you've got more than the average person doesn't mean your feelings aren't valid."

"Yeah, but—"

"No," Harry replied adamantly, "I can't even imagine what it's like to not be able to be myself every minute of every day just because someone I've never met might not like it. You should never have to sacrifice who you are to do what you love, and the fact that you have to is…it's just awful." Harry sighed heavily. "I just…just wish there was something I could do."

"S'not all bad," Niall said with a light laugh as he shrugged his shoulders. "Some days are worse than others but then there are days like the last few I've had with you and your family and…" Niall trailed off with another laugh, "it makes the rest worth it."

"I'm glad," Harry replied with a soft smile. "Everyone deserves to be happy."

"Even whiny popstars?" Harry rolled his eyes.

"You're not that whiny." Niall laughed. "Honestly, you could probably order everyone around and they'd still think the world of you."

"In that case, go get me a fork."

"Get it yourself, popstar. I'm not your servant." Niall burst out laughing and Harry grinned.

*

Harry had heard that weddings had the tendency of passing by in a blur, but he thought that was only true for the bride and groom. To his surprise, the day passed in the blink of an eye and suddenly he was standing next to Sean and his other groomsmen watching Robin walk Gemma down the aisle.

Their mum was already crying, practically holding back tears from the first moment Harry saw her that morning, as were many of the other women in the congregation. Gemma had the largest smile Harry had ever seen, and she hardly took her eyes off Sean for a second.

During their vows, Harry made the mistake of sneaking a look at the section where he knew Liam, Louis and Niall were sitting. Liam gave him a small wave with a big grin and Louis pulled a face that nearly made Harry burst out laughing. He glared at Louis for a moment before catching Niall's eye.

He winked at Harry, who suddenly couldn't contain the grin that spread across his face as his cheeks turned red. He turned his attention back to where it was supposed to be, but out of the corner of his eye he could see Niall smiling to himself.

With pictures immediately following the ceremony, Harry didn't get a chance to see Niall again until the reception was practically in full swing. But even then, Niall was on the opposite side of the hall with Liam and Louis while Harry and the rest of the wedding party were being ushered to their seats at the head table.

He listened to Gemma's maid of honor's speech, only hearing every other word as he kept glancing over to Niall's table. He appeared to be listening intently, catching Harry's eye once and giving him a half-amused, half-disapproving look as he motioned for Harry to turn his attention away from him.

When Harry was handed the microphone to make his own speech, he found himself to be so nervous that he started patting down his pockets even though he knew he hadn't written anything.

"Guess I'll have to wing it, then." The other guests laughed and Harry felt a wave of relief, allowing him to calm down enough to speak without tripping over his words.

"Gemma, you look absolutely stunning and I love you so much. I'm so happy to be here to celebrate this with you, as I'm sure we all are."

A soft chorus of chuckles swept the room and Harry took another calming breath.

"Sean, you clean up fairly well too," Harry clapped Sean's shoulder and chuckled, "I'm proud to call you my brother, welcome to the family. There's no getting rid of us now."

Harry caught Niall's eye and was suddenly filled with confidence, and the right words just started pouring out of his mouth.

"I think it truly is a marvelous thing to find a love like you two obviously have. I can see it in the way you look at each other, and I just know that love will still be there fifty years from now. I'm sure everyone in this room feels the same, even if they haven't found it for themselves yet. Who knows, maybe they will, tonight."

Harry couldn't keep himself from looking at Niall as he said it, and he felt his heart swell as Niall smiled back at him, the lightest shade of pink appearing on his cheeks. Harry turned his attention back to Sean and Gemma and raised his glass, gesturing for everyone to do the same.

"To Sean and Gemma!"

Gemma immediately got up to throw her arms around Harry, nearly causing him to drop his champagne glass.

"You sappy twat," she mumbled in his ear as she held him tightly. "Making me cry at my own wedding."

"S'my job," Harry replied as Gemma pulled back and carefully wiped her eyes.

"Go on then," she said as she gave him a light shove. "Go get him."

Harry rolled his eyes as Sean wrapped his arm around Gemma, pulling her away. He waited for about twenty seconds before leaving the head table and making his way towards Niall and the others. As he passed by his mum's table, she caught his arm and pulled him into a hug.

"That was very sweet, Harry."

"Thanks, mum." When he pulled back he saw the tears in her eyes and he sighed. "Mum, don't cry!"

"It's an emotional day, I'm bloody allowed!" Harry sighed again and pulled her into another hug.

"You and Gemma are ridiculous."

"Shut it." She tugged lightly on one of his curls and smiled as they pulled away from each other. "Off you go."

Harry smiled as he resumed walking towards his destination, carefully avoiding Taylor who was luckily chatting with one of the other groomsmen. He slipped into an empty chair besides Niall and sighed heavily.

"Hey, you're stealing my date's seat."

"Thought I was your date," Harry replied with a smile.

"Yeah, until you ditched me for the big, fancy table." Niall smirked. "Now my date's some lovely old lady whose name I don't actually remember."

"So the date's going well, then?" They both chuckled and Louis leaned over.

"Nice speech, Haz. Trying to make everyone cry their eyes out?"

"Isn't that the point of a wedding?"

"He's just mad because I caught him wiping away tears," Liam said with a laugh.

"I had something in my eye!" Louis protested, crossing his arms with a huff.

"I know, love." Liam smiled and kissed his cheek. "They're called tears."

"Wanker," Louis muttered. "I'm getting a drink."

He stood up and stalked off, Liam following close behind. Niall laughed and shook his head as he watched the pair run off.

"I like them."

"M'glad." Harry smiled.

A moment later, the DJ announced that Gemma and Sean were going to have their first dance as a married couple. Harry and Niall stayed seated as most of the other guests rose from their chairs to move closer to the dance floor. Harry watched Sean take Gemma into his arms with a smile on his face, turning his attention towards Niall when he heard him chuckle softly.

"Good song choice."

"Gem loves Ed Sheeran," Harry replied.

_Give me love like her/'Cause lately I've been waking up alone/Paint splattered teardrops on my shirt/Told you I'd let them go_

"As she should." Niall chuckled again. "He's a good guy. Little weird, but who isn't?"

Harry stared at Niall for a moment before groaning softly. "Of course you know Ed Sheeran."

"Are you really surprised?" Niall teased.

"No," Harry said with a laugh, "not at all, actually."

They sat quietly for a while, watching Sean and Gemma sway together through the crowd of people. Harry hardly noticed Niall move his chair closer, until Niall put his lips to Harry's ear.

"I liked your speech, by the way."

"Yeah?" Harry asked, his voice coming out in a low growl. Niall chuckled, his breath tickling and sending a shiver down Harry's spine.

"Yeah, can't help but think you had someone in mind."

"Maybe I did," Harry teased with a slight shrug of his shoulders.

"Well," Niall said as he pulled his hand back from where it was resting on the table in front of them, laying it lightly on Harry's upper thigh, "as long as it wasn't Taylor, I think I might be able to help you out."

"Oh?" Harry stiffened under Niall's touch, resisting the urge to scoot his chair closer to the table to hide his lap. He desperately wanted Niall's hand to move further, but the fact that they were at Gemma's _wedding reception_ kept him still.

"Yeah, y'know," Niall breathed out as he slowly dragged his fingers across Harry's thigh, "if you want."

"Y-Yeah—" Harry cleared his throat. "I want."

"Alright then," Niall said with a smile as he pulled his hand away. "Back in a bit."

He kissed Harry's cheek before he got up and ran off before Harry knew what had happened. He was alone for about a minute before Louis and Liam came back to the table and gave him identical smirks.

"Having a good time?" Louis asked.

"Shut up," Harry muttered as he crossed his legs. He winced and shifted, becoming increasingly frustrated as he tried to find a comfortable sitting position despite having his erection pressing against the zipper of his trousers.

Louis and Liam didn't say anything about it directly, but Harry could see them whispering to each other out of the corner of his eye and he was willing to bet anything in the world that they were talking about him.

"I'm going to the loo," he mumbled as he got up, crossing the room as quickly as he could and doing his best to avoid contact with anyone he came across.

He locked himself in a stall and pressed the heel of his hand against himself, gasping softly at the pressure. He took deep breaths to try and calm himself down, cursing Niall in his head and repeating _Irish bastard_ under his breath.

Harry re-entered the reception hall a few minutes later once he'd finally gotten himself under control. He scanned the room for Niall, but there was no sign of him. Unfortunately, he was so busy searching for Niall that he didn't realize Taylor was heading right for him until it was too late to get away.

"There you are!" She beamed as she tucked her arm around his. "I've been looking for you."

"Yeah?" Harry answered distractedly as he looked at Louis and Liam who had their backs to him, mentally willing them to turn around and help him.

"I wanted to tell you how much I loved your speech, it was so sweet!" Taylor kept rambling, but Harry paid no attention once he finally spotted Niall.

_Where the hell did he get a guitar and why is he—_

Harry's eyes widened as Niall was handed a microphone to fasten to the stand in front of him. Niall smiled widely and chuckled into it as he strummed the guitar, getting the tune just right.

"Hi everyone! I'm Niall."

"Hi Niall!" Louis yelled quickly before Liam clapped his hand over Louis' mouth.

"Hi Louis," Niall replied with a laugh. "Uhh, well, I was lucky enough to be invited to share in this special day for Gemma and Sean, and I wanted to do something to thank them for it."

He strummed the guitar again, clapping his hand against the strings as he looked around the room. He caught Harry's eye and smiled widely.

"I wrote this a little while back, and it's about finding that one person who you can see yourself traveling with, and spending ages doing whatever with and not get sick of them. Which I think is fitting for today, yeah?" Niall laughed and a chorus of chuckles echoed through the hall. "So, uhh, yeah. Here we go."

_I know you want, know you wanna take it slow/Think about all the places we could go/If you give in tonight/Just let me set you free/We'll touch the other side/Just give me the key_

Harry glanced around, seeing several sets of eyes on him and wide smiles adorning every single face. His mum had tears in her eyes again and Robin was holding her tightly; Gemma whispered something in Sean's ear and winked at Harry; Liam gave him a thumbs-up while Louis wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.

He shook his head at Louis before he looked back at Niall, who was still smiling as he sang.

_Hey, I don't want you to be the one that got away/I wanna get addicted to you, yeah/You're rushing through my mind, I wanna feel the high/I wanna be addicted, don't say no/Just let go_

Harry pulled away from Taylor, who had still been rattling on even through Niall's short monologue and into the song, ignoring how she called after him as he walked closer to Niall. He reached the edge of the makeshift stage just as Niall sang the last line, _why don't you go there with me?_

The hall erupted in applause when he finished, and Harry waited as patiently as he could while Niall gave the guitar back to someone Harry had never seen before. Niall said a few, quick words to Sean and Gemma before being practically pushed in Harry's direction.

"Was that you helping out?" Harry asked, a light teasing tone to his voice as Niall stuffed his hands in his pockets.

"Maybe. Didja like it?" Harry rolled his eyes.

"How could I not?" Niall grinned, taking one hand out of his pocket to reach forward and tug on Harry's tie, bringing him closer.

"In that case, yes."

Harry smiled as he let Niall pull him closer, his own hands resting softly on Niall's hips as their lips met. He moaned softly when Niall let go of his tie and cupped his hand around the back of his head.

"Get a room!" They pulled away abruptly and Harry turned to give Louis the finger, who was sitting in Liam's lap and cackling.

"Twat," Niall mumbled fondly. Harry chuckled, turning back to Niall and tightening his grip on Niall's waist.

"So…" he began softly, "…can we go there now?"

Niall grinned. "Abso-fucking-lutely."

*

As it turned out, Harry and Niall had very different definitions of where "there" actually was. Harry was absolutely ready to ditch the rest of the reception and go back to the hotel, but Niall had another plan. Instead of following Harry as he headed for the main door, he grabbed Harry's elbow and pulled him into the bathroom.

"What're you doing?" Harry asked in a harsh whisper as Niall pushed him into the same stall he'd been in not half an hour before.

"Couldn't wait," Niall replied quickly before pressing himself against Harry and kissing the breath right out of him. Harry groaned as Niall's hands roamed his body, his fingers fumbling with his belt buckle in an earnest effort to get his trousers off as soon as possible.

Niall slotted Harry's thigh between his legs and began rutting against him as he pulled the zipper of Harry's trousers down and pressed the palm of his hand against Harry's cock. Harry moaned into Niall's mouth, sliding his fingers through his hair and gripping tightly as his hips jerked forward.

"Niall," Harry gasped when Niall pulled away and slowly dropped to his knees. He smirked up at Harry before mouthing at the very obvious line of his erection through his pants. He pulled the fabric down and teased his tongue along the vein, causing Harry to shudder violently.

"Been dreaming about this," Niall whispered huskily as he wrapped his mouth around the head of Harry's cock. Harry clamped one hand over his mouth to muffle his sounds, pressing his other hand against the door of the stall to steady himself.

It just barely helped to lessen the moans that were spilling from his mouth as Niall sucked him, using his hand to stroke what his mouth couldn't take. Harry's legs felt weak and his head felt foggy but there was one clear thought and it was of Niall.

"Fuck, _fuck_ , Niall—" he moaned helplessly, dropping his hand from his mouth to grip Niall's hair again. Niall tightened his grip on Harry's hip and hummed around him as he started moving his hand faster around his cock.

Harry started babbling under his breath, mostly Niall's name mixed with curses and words of encouragement, desperately trying to keep quiet but failing spectacularly. He felt his orgasm start to come on, and he let out a gasp as he tried to warn Niall.

"I'm—I'm— _shit_ , I'm gonna come—"

Niall kept his mouth wrapped around Harry as he came, swallowing around him while Harry cried out his name again. He slowly pulled off and got to his feet, only to be immediately pulled into Harry's arms and kissed deeply.

"Well worth the wait," he mumbled against Harry's lips. Harry groaned softly as he pressed his hand against Niall's erection, earning a soft gasp from him.

"My turn," he said as he pushed Niall back against the opposite wall, making quick work of Niall's clothes so he could return the favor. Niall moaned quite loudly when Harry sank his mouth down over him, sucking just as hard if not harder than Niall had with him.

"Not—gonna last—long—" Niall grunted, already close to the edge just from getting Harry off. Harry seemed to take this as a challenge, hollowing his cheeks to suck harder as he dug his fingers into Niall's hips.

True to his word, Niall came a few minutes later with a string of curses that anyone within ten feet of the bathroom probably heard. Harry pulled off and swallowed deeply before looking up at Niall from his knees, smiling widely and letting out a soft laugh.

"Shit," Niall said with a heavy sigh, "the last thing I want is to be laughed at right now, you tosser."

"Sorry," Harry said as he got to his feet and pressed his lips against Niall's. "I'll make it up to you later."

"Yeah?" Niall raised an eyebrow. "How's that?"

"Well," Harry moved to suck a mark into Niall's neck, "I was thinking you could fuck me later." He licked the mark he'd just made and Niall shivered. "Y'know, prove that you've got stamina."

"Oh, I'll show you stamina." Niall reached down and grabbed Harry's arse, pulling him tight against his body. "You just wait."

"Looking forward to it." Harry grinned.

*

There was absolutely nothing subtle about the way Niall and Harry exited the bathroom ten minutes later, and in retrospect they should've expected what happened next. They were slowly making their way back to the table where Liam and Louis were, though with the way they both kept nudging each other and smiling it was clear they were in no particular hurry.

They were so enthralled with one another that they didn't notice someone standing before them until Harry almost knocked into them. He looked up, ready to apologize, when his face fell at the sight before him.

"Hi, Taylor."

"Harry," she replied with a smile that Harry had never seen before. It was forced, faking sweet to the point where it was worrisome. "I finally realized where I know you from, Niall."

"Oh?" Niall said as Taylor turned her attention to him. She let out a hollow laugh as she pulled out her phone.

"Yeah. What d'you think your management would say if they knew you were caught on camera making out with Harry?"

"Taylor—" Harry gasped as she showed them the picture she'd took of them earlier. "What are you playing at?"

"Doesn't matter," Niall replied with a shrug of his shoulders.

"Really?" Taylor asked, doing practically nothing to hide her disbelief. "So you wouldn't care if I—"

"Nope," Niall interrupted as he took Harry's hand in his own and held it tightly, "tell whoever you want. You're not getting this one away from me."

He pulled Harry past Taylor, who scoffed loudly as they went by and Harry couldn't help but stare at Niall as he kept walking.

"Niall," he said as he paused mid-step. "Are you—"

Niall cut him off with a kiss, pulling away a moment later and sighing heavily.

"I don't care anymore. Haven't for a while, actually, but I didn't know what to do about it."

"Zayn's going to kill me," Harry mumbled with a nervous laugh.

"He'll have to go through me," Niall said with a smile before he gave Harry another sweet kiss. "C'mon."

He gently tugged Harry towards the dance floor, where a few other couples had already congregated as the DJ began playing Elvis Presley's 'Can't Help Falling in Love". They wrapped their arms around each other and Niall pressed his face into Harry's neck as they swayed back and forth slowly.

"D'you think she'll really do it?" Harry asked softly. Niall shrugged.

"Don't see why she wouldn't."

"Yeah, but—"

"Shh, Haz." Niall sighed softly as he lifted his head up and looked him in the eyes. "It's not important."

"If you say so," Harry replied with a slight frown.

"I do." Niall grinned. "I've got a much more important question to ask, anyway."

"Really?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "And what's that?"

"What're you doing after this?"

"I thought we went over that already," Harry said with a smirk as he leaned down to kiss Niall. He chuckled against Harry's lips, pulling his head back and shaking it lightly.

"Not _right_ after this, you idiot."

"Oh." Harry blinked. "Dunno. Going back to London, I s'pose."

"Would you want some company?" Niall asked cautiously and Harry smiled widely.

"Absolutely. After all, you've got to come taste my sweets, yeah?" Niall laughed and shook his head.

"There's a dirty joke in there somewhere, and I'm going to find it."

"M'sure you will."

"Something about buns," Niall rambled as his hands slipped around to Harry's back and down further. Harry let out a soft squeak and Niall grinned.

"Cheeky," Harry replied as he rolled his eyes.

"Now you're getting it." Niall beamed, leaning forward again and bringing their lips back together.

Harry could distantly hear Louis catcalling them again, but he didn't care. Though in the back of his mind, for once he wasn't plotting Louis' demise. He was thinking about what he could get for both Louis and Liam that would ever possibly repay them for bringing him Niall.

**Author's Note:**

> [my tumblr](http://imlouisaf.tumblr.com)


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